GEPHE SUMMARY
Print
Gephebase Gene
Entry Status
Published
GepheID
GP00001783
Main curator
Courtier
PHENOTYPIC CHANGE
Trait Category
Trait State in Taxon A
sensitive to DEET
Trait State in Taxon B
resistant to DEET - Hawaiian strain CB4856
Ancestral State
Taxon A
Taxonomic Status
Taxon A
Latin Name
Common Name
-
Synonyms
roundworm; Rhabditis elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans (Maupas, 1900); Rhabditis elegans Maupas, 1900
Rank
species
Lineage
Show more ...
s; Eukaryota; Opisthokonta; Metazoa; Eumetazoa; Bilateria; Protostomia; Ecdysozoa; Nematoda; Chromadorea; Rhabditida; Rhabditina; Rhabditomorpha; Rhabditoidea; Rhabditidae; Peloderinae; Caenorhabditis
NCBI Taxonomy ID
is Taxon A an Infraspecies?
No
Taxon B
Latin Name
Common Name
-
Synonyms
roundworm; Rhabditis elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans (Maupas, 1900); Rhabditis elegans Maupas, 1900
Rank
species
Lineage
Show more ...
s; Eukaryota; Opisthokonta; Metazoa; Eumetazoa; Bilateria; Protostomia; Ecdysozoa; Nematoda; Chromadorea; Rhabditida; Rhabditina; Rhabditomorpha; Rhabditoidea; Rhabditidae; Peloderinae; Caenorhabditis
NCBI Taxonomy ID
is Taxon B an Infraspecies?
Yes
Taxon B Description
CB4856 (Hawaiian strain)
GENOTYPIC CHANGE
Generic Gene Name
str-217
Synonyms
CELE_Y102A5C.28; Y102A5C.28
String
-
Sequence Similarities
-
GO - Molecular Function
GO - Biological Process
GO - Cellular Component
Presumptive Null
Molecular Type
Aberration Type
Deletion Size
-
Molecular Details of the Mutation
deletion that leads to a predicted frame shift and early stop codon - the predicted resulting protein has only one transmembrane domain instead of the 7 transmembrane domains - 138-bp deletion in exon 2 and 3 and intervening intron according to https://www.wormbase.org/species/c_elegans/variation/WBVar02076179#02-45-3 and email from Emily Dennis from 9 March 2019
Experimental Evidence
Main Reference
Authors
Dennis EJ; Dobosiewicz M; Jin X; Duvall LB; Hartman PS; Bargmann CI; Vosshall LB
Abstract
DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) is a synthetic chemical identified by the US Department of Agriculture in 1946 in a screen for repellents to protect soldiers from mosquito-borne diseases. Since its discovery, DEET has become the world's most widely used arthropod repellent and is effective against invertebrates separated by millions of years of evolution-including biting flies, honeybees, ticks, and land leeches. In insects, DEET acts on the olfactory system and requires the olfactory receptor co-receptor Orco, but exactly how it works remains controversial. Here we show that the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is sensitive to DEET and use this genetically tractable animal to study the mechanism of action of this chemical. We found that DEET is not a volatile repellent, but instead interferes selectively with chemotaxis to a variety of attractant and repellent molecules. In a forward genetic screen for DEET-resistant worms, we identified a gene that encodes a single G protein-coupled receptor, str-217, which is expressed in a single pair of chemosensory neurons that are responsive to DEET, called ADL neurons. Mis-expression of str-217 in another chemosensory neuron conferred responses to DEET. Engineered str-217 mutants, and a wild isolate of C. elegans that carries a str-217 deletion, are resistant to DEET. We found that DEET can interfere with behaviour by inducing an increase in average pause length during locomotion, and show that this increase in pausing requires both str-217 and ADL neurons. Finally, we demonstrated that ADL neurons are activated by DEET and that optogenetic activation of ADL neurons increased average pause length. This is consistent with the 'confusant' hypothesis, which proposes that DEET is not a simple repellent but that it instead modulates multiple olfactory pathways to scramble behavioural responses. Our results suggest a consistent motif in the effectiveness of DEET across widely divergent taxa: an effect on multiple chemosensory neurons that disrupts the pairing between odorant stimulus and behavioural response.
Additional References
RELATED GEPHE
Related Haplotypes
EXTERNAL LINKS
COMMENTS
https://www.wormbase.org/species/c_elegans/variation/WBVar02076179#02-45-3 - other C. elegans strains carry the mutation Gln5*
YOUR FEEDBACK is welcome!