Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) uses specialized mechanosensory neurons to detect food. These neurons release dopamine to suppress foraging and promote dwelling. This study identified genes highly expressed in dopaminergic food-sensing neurons and screened for defects in the food-triggered slowing behavior mediated by these neurons. They found a K2P-family potassium channel gene TWK-2 that mutates to cause increased basal activity of dopamine neurons and exaggerated food-induced slowing. C. elegans embryonic cell cultures were obtained from animals carrying integrated trangenes that fluorescently label both dopamine and serotonin neurons. Embryos were harvested from a synchronous population of young adult hermaphrodites carrying a single row of eggs. This dataset includes RNA sequencing data from dopamine and serotonin neurons.