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[Q. Neuroscience-41]

Identify the function of mechanosensitive channel PEZO-1 in

C. elegans males

Jihye Cho¹, Kyuhyung Kim¹

¹Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, DGIST, Daegu 42988, Korea

PIEZO channels are newly identified mechanosensitive ion channels that confer calcium response to mechanical
stimuli (Bai X et al., 2020). C. elegans genome has a single PIEZO gene, pezo-1, which encodes 14 isoforms. However,
the function of PEZO-1 in C. elegans has not been explored yet. To examine its function, we first grouped 14

isoforms into short or long isoform depending on the mRNA length and observed their expression patterns. We

found that the promoter region of short isoforms is expressed in several tail neurons, including the 6th ray neurons
in C. elegans males. Nine pairs of male ray neurons appear to have functional specialization and have been
implicated to be involved in mating behavior (Zhang H, Yue X, Cheng H, et al., 2018). Interestingly, sensory endings

of ray 6 neurons, but not other ray neurons, are not exposed to the external environment (Sulston and Horvitz,
1977), suggesting a distinct role in mechanotransduction during C. elegans mating. We are currently examining the

contribution of PEZO-1 to mating behavior in males.