ArticleCurrent biology : CB2018
A Single-Neuron Chemosensory Switch Determines the Valence of a Sexually Dimorphic Sensory Behavior.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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47 citing papers in PubMed, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Sexual dimorphism in the nervous system: Three principles from the nematode C.elegans.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2026Review
- Efficient pheromone navigation via antagonistic detectors in Caenorhabditis elegans male.Nature communications · 2026Article
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- A multilayered gap junction network is essential for social decision-making.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Single-nucleus neuronal transcriptional profiling of male C. elegans uncovers regulators of sex-specific and sex-shared behaviors.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Decoding sexual dimorphism of the sex-shared nervous system at single-neuron resolution.Science advances · 2025Article
- Serotonergic Signaling GovernseNeuro · 2025Article
- Evolution of neural circuits in the origin of behavioral novelty.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2025Article
- Calcium levels in ASER neurons determine behavioral valence by engaging distinct neuronal circuits in C. elegans.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Male-specific behavioral and transcriptomic changes in agingiScience · 2024Article
- C. elegans males optimize mate-preference decisions via sex-specific responses to multimodal sensory cues.Current biology : CB · 2024Article
- A sex-specific switch in a single glial cell patterns the apical extracellular matrix.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
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- A sex-specific switch in a single glial cell patterns the apical extracellular matrix.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Nematode Pheromones: Structures and Functions.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Functional imaging and quantification of multineuronal olfactory responses inScience advances · 2023Article
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6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
Biological sex, a fundamental dimension of internal state, can modulate neural circuits to generate behavioral variation. Understanding how and why circuits are tuned by sex can provide important insights into neural and behavioral plasticity. Here we find that sexually dimorphic behavioral responses to C. elegans ascaroside sex pheromones are implemented by the functional modulation of shared chemosensory circuitry. In particular, the sexual state of a single sensory neuron pair, ADF, determines the nature of an animal's behavioral response regardless of the sex of the rest of the body. Genetic feminization of ADF causes males to be repelled by, rather than attracted to, ascarosides, whereas masculinization of ADF has the opposite effect in hermaphrodites. When ADF is ablated, both sexes are weakly repelled by ascarosides. Genetic sex modulates ADF function by tuning chemosensation: although ADF is functional in both sexes, it detects the ascaroside ascr#3 only in males, a consequence of cell-autonomous action of the master sexual regulator tra-1. This occurs in part through the conserved DM-domain gene mab-3, which promotes the male state of ADF. The sexual modulation of ADF has a key role in reproductive fitness, as feminization or ablation of ADF renders males unable to use ascarosides to locate mates. Our results reveal an economical mechanism in which sex-specific behavioral valence arises through the cell-autonomous regulation of a chemosensory switch by genetic sex, allowing a social cue with salience for both sexes to elicit navigational responses commensurate with the differing needs of each.
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