Insulin Signal Is Required for Sensory Neuron Development in Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a powerful model for the study of nervous system development. This study investigated mechanisms required for the development of C. elegans sensory neurons, BAGs. C. elegans express many insulin-like peptides (ILPs), which are released from BAGs, throughout the nervous system. It is found that the p38 MAP kinase PMK-3 that is required for the differentiation of chemosensory BAG neurons limits an ILP signal that represses expression of a BAG neuron fate. To determine how PMK-3 functions in BAG neuron development, they isolated and characterized pmk-3 suppressor mutations. The dataset includes RNA sequencing data, which revealed ILP-dependent mechanism that regulates development of BAG neurons might also function to regulate the differentiation of other neurons in C. elegans.