Olfactory Plasticity Is Regulated by Pheromonal Signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Too Close for Comfort: Pheromones are often used for sexual communications in animals, but they can also serve as a measure of population density. Now, Yamada et al. (p. 1647 ) have found that population density in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans regulates plasticity of olfactory behavior, in which attraction to an odorant decreases after prolonged exposure. Using two rounds of genetic screens, a peptide named SNET-1 and a homolog of a mammalian transmembrane peptidase neprilysin were found to mediate pheromonal regulation. This regulation of olfactory behavior may serve to coordinate the behavior of individual animals in relation to the status of the whole population.