Molecular and cellular modulators for multisensory integration in <i>C</i>. <i>elegans</i> - Fig 5

Downstream circuit that regulates 2-nonanone-dependent food leaving (A-C) Inhibiting the activity of the AIY interneurons by expressing the gain-of-function isoform of the potassium channel TWK-18 (A, Pttx-3::twk-18(gf), n = 3 assays each) or by blocking the synaptic outputs of AIY by expressing tetanus toxin (B, Pttx-3::TeTx, n = 4 assays each), or the mutation ttx-3(mg158) that generates development defects in AIY (C, n = 3 assays each) delays the decision to leave the OP50 lawn paired with 100% 2-nonanone.(D, E) Selectively expressing tetanus toxin (D, Pinx-1::TeTx, n = 2 assays each) or the inhibitory HisCl channel (E, Pinx-1::HisCl, n = 3 and 4 assays for wild type and transgenic animals, respectively) in the AIB interneurons does not significantly alter the lawn-leaving decision, when the OP50 lawn is paired with 100% 2-nonanone.(F, G) Blocking synaptic outputs from the nmr-1-expressing neurons (F, Pnmr-1::TeTx, n = 3 assays each) or the glr-1-expressing neurons (G, Pglr-1::TeTx, n = 4 and 3 assays for wild type and transgenic animals, respectively) enhances the 2-nonanone-dependent lawn leaving. Each bar graph reports the average percentage of worms outside the lawn 15 minutes after the start of the assay (A-F), unless otherwise specified (G). Mean ± SEM, mutants are compared with wild-type animals with student’s t test, transgenic animals are compared with non-transgenic siblings or wild type with student’s t-test, * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001, n.s., not significant.