PDF-1 neuropeptide signaling regulates sexually dimorphic gene expression in shared sensory neurons of <i>C. elegans</i>.

Abstract

Sexually dimorphic behaviors are a feature common to species across the animal kingdom, however how such behaviors are generated from mostly sex-shared nervous systems is not well understood. Building on our previous work which described the sexually dimorphic expression of a neuroendocrine ligand, DAF-7, and its role in behavioral decision-making in <i>C. elegans</i> (Hilbert and Kim, 2017), we show here that sex-specific expression of <i>daf-7</i> is regulated by another neuroendocrine ligand, Pigment Dispersing Factor (PDF-1), which has previously been implicated in regulating male-specific behavior (Barrios et al., 2012). Our analysis revealed that PDF-1 signaling acts sex- and cell-specifically in the ASJ neurons to regulate the expression of <i>daf-7,</i> and we show that differences in PDFR-1 receptor activity account for the sex-specific effects of this pathway. Our data suggest that modulation of the sex-shared nervous system by a cascade of neuroendocrine signals can shape sexually dimorphic behaviors.