# The regulation of gut-brain communication during Caenorhabditis elegans dauer development

> **NIH NIH F32** · CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2020 · $65,310

## Abstract

Project Summary
The communication among different tissues (or organs), such as the gut-brain axis, is crucial in regulating
animal physiology and developmental decisions. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans enters a non-feeding,
developmentally arrested dauer stage to cope with the harsh environments, such as food shortage and over-
population. The dauer decision is regulated by the multiple pathways (insulin, growth factor, and hormone),
involving the nervous system, XXX neuroendocrine cells, and intestine. Previous research has established
C. elegans as a model organism to study stress-responsive development, but tissue-specific regulation of
dauer development remains unclear. In particular, little is known about how nervous system coordinates with
the intestine to integrate the signaling pathways and make a whole-organism dauer decision. The proposed
aims focus on providing a systematic study of how different tissues communicate through multiple
signaling pathways and coordinately regulate the dauer decision using molecular genetics tools
recently developed in the sponsor lab. To achieve this goal, Aim 1 will focus on investigating the general
roles of each tissue during dauer development and build models for the regulatory network; Aim 2 will focus on
temporal participation of each tissue and each pathway in dauer decision initiation and execution, further
developing precise circuits of dauer regulation. Altogether, the proposed aims will expand the current
knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlying developmental timing of commitment to diapause in response
to environmental stress. Using C. elegans dauer decision as a model, the proposed project will contribute to
better understanding of the inter-tissue coordination, particularly in brain-gut communication, during the
developmental decision making process.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9934865
- **Project number:** 5F32GM131570-02
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** Mengyi Cao
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $65,310
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9934865

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9934865, The regulation of gut-brain communication during Caenorhabditis elegans dauer development (5F32GM131570-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9934865. Licensed CC0.

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