Constitutively active PKA in GABAergic neurons partially bypasses the requirement of AEX-2/GPCR.

<p>(A) Diagram showing the construction of the constitutively active PKA (PKA[CA]). “R” and “C” indicate the PKA regulatory and catalytic subunit, respectively. The two asterisks (*) represent the two mutations (H96Q, W205R) in the PKA catalytic subunit KIN-1a, which presumably disrupt its association with the regulatory subunit but do not affect its enzymatic activity. (B) Quantification of the Exp step of young adults with the indicated genotypes. PKA[CA] denotes PKA constitutively active transgenic worms (<i>vjIs102</i> and <i>vjIs103</i>) expressing the mutated catalytic subunit <i>kin-1a</i>(H96Q, W205R) in the GABAergic neurons using the <i>unc-47</i> full length promoter. <i>vjIs103</i> and <i>vjIs77</i> were used for the PKA[CA];PKA[DN] strain. (C) Representative ethograms of ten consecutive defecation cycles of young adult worms with the indicated genotypes. Each dot represents 1 s. “p” stands for the pBoc step and “x” indicates the Exp step. Ectopic Exp steps are indicated by “<u>x</u>”. Means and standard errors are shown. Asterisks indicate significant differences between indicated groups: ** P<0.01, *** P<0.005 in Student's t-test.