Stearoyl-CoA desaturases sustain cholinergic excitation and copulatory robustness in metabolically aging C.elegansmales.

abstract

• Regulated metabolism is required for behaviors as adults age. To understand how lipid usage affects motor coordination, we studied male Caenorhabditis elegans copulation as a model of energy-intensive behavior. Copulation performance drops after 48h of adulthood. We found that 12-24h before behavioral decline, males prioritize exploring and copulation behavior over feeding, suggesting that catabolizing stored metabolites, such as lipids, occurs during this period. Because fat-6/7-encoded stearoyl-CoA desaturases are essential for converting the ingested fatty acids to lipid storage, we examined the copulation behavior and neural calcium transients of fat-6(lf); fat-7(lf) mutants. In wild-type males, intestinal and epithelial fat-6/7 expression increases during the first 48h of adulthood. The fat-6(lf); fat-7(lf) behavioral and metabolic defects indicate that in aging wild-type males, the increased expression of stearoyl-CoA desaturases in the epidermis may indirectly modulate the levels of EAG-family K+ channels in the reproductive cholinergic neurons and muscles.

authors

• Garcia, Luis

published proceedings

• iScience

altmetric score

• 0.75

author list (cited authors)

• Goncalves, J., Wan, Y., & Garcia, L. R.

citation count

• 2

complete list of authors

• Goncalves, Jimmy||Wan, Yufeng||Garcia, L René

publication date

• January 2022

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

published in

• iScience  Journal

keywords

• Behavioral Endocrinology
• Behavioral Neuroscience
• Molecular Mechanism Of Behavior

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104082

start page

• 104082

end page

• 104082

volume

• 25

issue

• 4

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104082