Animals rely on the integration of a variety of external cues to understand and respond appropriately to their environment. The relative amounts of food and constitutively secreted pheromone detected by the nematode C. elegans determines how it will develop and grow. Starvation conditions cause the animal to enter a protective stage, termed dauer. Dauer animals are non-eating, long-lived and stress resistant. Yet, when these animals are introduced to food replete conditions they will recover from dauer and proceed into normal development. Furthermore, food restriction has been demonstrated to extend the lifespan of a wide-range of species including C. elegans. However, the exact mechanism by which food signals are detected and transduced by C. elegans to influence development and longevity remains unknown. Here, we identify a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) DCAR-1 that acts in two chemosensory neurons to mediate food signaling in an autophagy-related manner. The DCAR-1 ligand Dihydrocaffeic acid (DHCA) competes with dauer-inducing pheromone to promote growth. DHCA is a key intermediate in the shikimate pathway, which is required to synthesize folate and aromatic amino acids. We report that dcar-1 mutations influence dauer formation and extend wildtype lifespan via a mechanism of dietary restriction. Moreover, we show that the lifespan extension of dcar-1 mutants is completely dependent on autophagy gene atg- 18. Furthermore, our data suggests metabolites derived from shikimate are food signals that control aging and dauer development through GPCR signaling in C. elegans. These studies will contribute to the delineation of mechanisms behind the beneficial effects of dietary restriction in eukaryotic organisms. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_41958 |
| Contributors | Parker, Thomas A. (author), Jia, Kailiang (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 144 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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