{"doi":"10.1101/2025.01.27.634647","title":"Non-visual light modulates behavioral memory and gene expression in <i>C. elegans</i>","abstract":"Abstract Visible light influences a range of physiological processes, yet how animals respond to it independently of the visual system remains largely unknown. Here, we uncover a previously undescribed light-induced transcriptional pathway that modulates behavioral plasticity in C. elegans , a roundworm without eyes. We demonstrate that ambient visible light or controlled-intensity visible-spectrum LED activates an effector gene cyp-14A5 in non-neuronal tissues through the bZIP transcription factors ZIP-2 and CEBP-2. Light induction of cyp-14A5 is more prominent at shorter wavelengths but is independent of the known blue light receptors LITE-1 and GUR-3 in C. elegans . This bZIP-dependent genetic pathway in non-neuronal tissues enhances behavioral adaptability and olfactory memory, suggesting a body-brain communication axis. Furthermore, we use the light-responsive cyp-14A5 promoter to drive ectopic gene expression, causing synthetic light-induced sleep and rapid aging phenotypes in C. elegans . These findings advance our understanding of light-responsive mechanisms outside the visual system and offer a new genetic tool for visible light-inducible gene expression in non-neuronal tissues.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2025,"id":561006,"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":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.954,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":577094,"name":"Bingying Wang","orcid":"0000-0001-7362-7371","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":572478,"name":"Rashmi Chandra","orcid":"0000-0001-9591-8997","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":680323,"name":"Junqiang Liu","orcid":"0000-0002-2953-487X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1463295,"name":"Supeng Yang","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":871104,"name":"Yong Long","orcid":"0000-0001-6439-0181","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":304918,"name":"Michael Egan","orcid":"0000-0002-9709-1206","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1463296,"name":"Fujia Han","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":256160,"name":"Han Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-1442-4539","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1463297,"name":"Noelle L’Etoile","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":142695,"name":"Dengke K. Ma","orcid":"0000-0002-5619-7485","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1345570,"name":"Zhijian Ji","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":54,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:55:46.921885Z","pmid":"39975403","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":[]}