WOrM Podcast: Whole Organism Analytics Podcast11 Kesä 2025

EPISODE 17: Oxygen High – Worms Breathe, Signal, and Adapt with cGMP Precision

In this episode, we explore how Caenorhabditis elegans senses and responds to oxygen — not just by breathing, but by activating a finely tuned cGMP signalling network in real time.

Using genetically encoded biosensors, researchers reveal how rising oxygen levels trigger tonic cGMP and Ca²⁺ responses in O₂-sensing neurons like PQR, and how a web of feedback loops controls these signals to shape behaviour.

We unpack:

The role of soluble guanylate cyclases in detecting O₂
How PDE-1 and PDE-2 form a push-pull system to shape cGMP signals
Surprising individual variability in cGMP responses — even in identical worms
Evidence for cGMP nanodomains and subcellular signal compartmentalisation
How these pathways help worms make behavioural decisions in fluctuating oxygen

📖 Based on the research article:

“In vivo genetic dissection of O₂-evoked cGMP dynamics in a Caenorhabditis elegans gas sensor”

Africa Couto, Shigekazu Oda, Viacheslav O. Nikolaev, Zoltan Soltesz & Mario de Bono

Published in PNAS (2013)

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1217428110

🎧 Subscribe to the WoRM Podcast for more deep dives into sensory circuits, neuromodulation, and whole-organism neuroscience!

This podcast is generated with artificial intelligence and curated by Veeren. If you’d like your publication featured on the show, please get in touch.

📩 More info:

🔗 ⁠⁠www.veerenchauhan.com⁠⁠

📧 veeren.chauhan@nottingham.ac.uk

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