Neurodegeneration-related genes influence C. elegans pharyngeal activity

Pharyngeal pumping and its reduction following mechanical insult are well-studied C. elegans behaviors. Here, we assessed new applications of pharyngeal pumping assays in the study of neurodegenerative disease and psychiatric illness. We examined five genes implicated in two forms of neurodegeneration, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSPs) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD), for both baseline pharyngeal pumping and the depressive response after touch stimulus. All five mutants showed reduced baseline pumping rate, suggesting a potential utility of this assay to study neurodegenerative disease on a broad scale. However, regarding the induced pumping response, which has been linked to schizophrenia, only specific genes, the HSP-related atln-1/ Atlastin and the AD-related ptl-1/ tau, showed defects. Together, we highlight two pharyngeal pumping behaviors as genetically distinct, potentially informative settings for understanding the functions of genes linked to neurodegeneration.