{"doi":"10.1101/2020.12.09.417857","title":"Distinct Neuropeptide-Receptor Modules Regulate a Sex-Specific Behavioral Response to a Pheromone","abstract":"Abstract Dioecious species are a hallmark of the animal kingdom, with opposing sexes responding differently to identical sensory cues. Here, we study the response of C. elegans’ to the small-molecule pheromone, ascr#8, which elicits opposing behavioral valences in each sex. We identify a novel neuropeptide-neuropeptide receptor (NP/NPR) module that is active in males, but not in hermaphrodites. Using a novel paradigm of neuropeptide rescue that we established, we leverage bacterial expression of individual peptides to rescue the sex-specific response to ascr#8. Concurrent biochemical studies confirmed individual FLP-3 peptides differentially activate two divergent receptors, NPR-10 and FRPR-16. Interestingly, the two of the peptides that rescued behavior in our feeding paradigm are related through a conserved threonine, suggesting that a specific NP/NPR combination sets a male state, driving the correct behavioral valence of the ascr#8 response. Receptor expression within pre-motor neurons reveals novel coordination of male-specific and core locomotory circuitries.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2020,"id":123193,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9605,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":565892,"name":"Emily J. McGlame","orcid":"0000-0003-0978-0739","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":325285,"name":"Elke Vandewyer","orcid":"0000-0003-1774-1764","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":566558,"name":"Annalise M. Robidoux","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":566559,"name":"Haylea T. Northcott","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":566560,"name":"William Joyce","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":564496,"name":"Mark J. Alkema","orcid":"0000-0002-1311-5179","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":565893,"name":"Robert J. Gegear","orcid":"0000-0001-9886-1324","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":325291,"name":"Isabel Beets","orcid":"0000-0002-0968-4360","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":565894,"name":"Jagan Srinivasan","orcid":"0000-0001-5449-7938","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":565891,"name":"Douglas K. Reilly","orcid":"0000-0001-8260-8690","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":70,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:14:59.547352Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}