@article{6156,
  abstract     = {Social and solitary feeding in natural Caenorhabditis elegans isolates are associated with two alleles of the orphan G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) NPR-1: social feeders contain NPR-1 215F, whereas solitary feeders contain NPR-1 215V. Here we identify FMRFamide-related neuropeptides (FaRPs) encoded by the flp-18 and flp-21 genes as NPR-1 ligands and show that these peptides can differentially activate the NPR-1 215F and NPR-1 215V receptors. Multicopy overexpression of flp-21 transformed wild social animals into solitary feeders. Conversely, a flp-21 deletion partially phenocopied the npr-1(null) phenotype, which is consistent with NPR-1 activation by FLP-21 in vivo but also implicates other ligands for NPR-1. Phylogenetic studies indicate that the dominant npr-1 215V allele likely arose from an ancestral npr-1 215F gene in C. elegans. Our data suggest a model in which solitary feeding evolved in an ancestral social strain of C. elegans by a gain-of-function mutation that modified the response of NPR-1 to FLP-18 and FLP-21 ligands.},
  author       = {Rogers, Candida and Reale, Vincenzina and Kim, Kyuhyung and Chatwin, Heather and Li, Chris and Evans, Peter and de Bono, Mario},
  issn         = {1097-6256},
  journal      = {Nature Neuroscience},
  number       = {11},
  pages        = {1178--1185},
  publisher    = {Springer Nature},
  title        = {{Inhibition of Caenorhabditis elegans social feeding by FMRFamide-related peptide activation of NPR-1}},
  doi          = {10.1038/nn1140},
  volume       = {6},
  year         = {2003},
}