Identity and functions of monoaminergic neurons in the predatory nematode Pristionchus pacificus reveal nervous system conservation and divergence
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eLife Assessment
This study presents valuable insights into cellular sites of monoamine production and presence in Pristionchus pacificus, providing a comparative reference for the detailed knowledge of C. elegans, as well as using this information to compare serotonergic anatomy in 22 nematode species. Functional assays support evolved differences in monoaminergic control over certain, but not all, tested behaviors. The evidence is convincing, combining careful genetic experiments and comparative analysis that are well aligned with the conclusions. The results will serve as a basis for (comparative) structural-functional studies of nematode behavior.
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Abstract
Changes in neurotransmitter usage in homologous neurons may drive evolutionary adaptations in neural circuits across animal phylogeny. The predatory nematode Pristionchus pacificus can be used as a model system to examine nervous system evolution by comparing neurotransmitter expression with that of C. elegans and other nematodes. Here we characterize P. pacificus neurotransmitter expression and function in specific neurons, focusing on its complete set of monoaminergic neurons. We discover patterns of conservation as well as novelties. We examine the roles of monoamines in specific behaviors using neurotransmitter synthesis and vesicular transporter mutants, finding possible differences in the control of host-finding and dispersal behavior.
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eLife Assessment
This study presents valuable insights into cellular sites of monoamine production and presence in Pristionchus pacificus, providing a comparative reference for the detailed knowledge of C. elegans, as well as using this information to compare serotonergic anatomy in 22 nematode species. Functional assays support evolved differences in monoaminergic control over certain, but not all, tested behaviors. The evidence is convincing, combining careful genetic experiments and comparative analysis that are well aligned with the conclusions. The results will serve as a basis for (comparative) structural-functional studies of nematode behavior.
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Reviewer #1 (Public review):
Summary:
The authors provide extensive immunoreactivity and expression data to map monoaminergic neurotransmitter production sites in Pristionchus pacificus. This nematode is relatively distantly related to the popular model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, for which such information is already available. They find that dopamine, tyramine, and octopamine are present in the same neurons in both species, but differences are observed for serotonin. This forms the basis for a comparison of serotonergic neurons across 22 nematode species. In addition, they evaluate monoaminergic effects on egg-laying, head movement during reversals, and nictation behavior, to find that monoaminergic control over the latter differs between C. elegans and P. pacificus. This shows that some anatomical flexibility supports similar …
Reviewer #1 (Public review):
Summary:
The authors provide extensive immunoreactivity and expression data to map monoaminergic neurotransmitter production sites in Pristionchus pacificus. This nematode is relatively distantly related to the popular model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, for which such information is already available. They find that dopamine, tyramine, and octopamine are present in the same neurons in both species, but differences are observed for serotonin. This forms the basis for a comparison of serotonergic neurons across 22 nematode species. In addition, they evaluate monoaminergic effects on egg-laying, head movement during reversals, and nictation behavior, to find that monoaminergic control over the latter differs between C. elegans and P. pacificus. This shows that some anatomical flexibility supports similar outcomes, whereas in other cases it is the basis of evolved regulatory differences.
Strengths:
The comparative efforts are laudable and valuable, including a thorough revisiting of old data and corrections of what is judged as a historic misannotation. The expected continued value of this work is also appreciated, because nematodes have similar anatomies and behaviors, cellular-resolution data of different species permits the study of functional evolution of neurotransmitter usage in homologous neurons.
Despite the strong experimental approach, there are some points that require addressing:
(1) Not all the concepts of the introduction ('feeding behaviors', to a lesser extent also 'evolution of neurotransmitter usage in homologous neurons') are followed up upon in the results or discussion sections.
(2) The choice of nematodes ('only' 13 species) may affect what is perceived as ancestral. Also, identifying their cells based on comparisons with Ce or Ppa identifications only is understandable but mildly risky: there are many cells in the head, and mistakes would go unnoticed until detailed analysis in each species can provide conclusive evidence.
(3) It is not reported whether the nictation-defective mutants have general locomotion defects; therefore, whether the reported problem is specific to this host-finding behavior or not.
(4) The section on RIP neurons makes sense for Ppa, but not for Ce (dauers in fact have weakened IL2-to-RIP connections), and should be revised. The nictation data also do not support the breadth of the conclusions, which should either be toned down or rephrased as hypothetical.
(5) The discussion mostly reiterates the results, leaving little room for the author's interpretations and opinions. I would suggest reworking in favor of conceptual discussion.
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Reviewer #2 (Public review):
Summary:
This paper makes important contributions to our understanding of how nervous systems evolve, with a particular focus on whether changes in neurotransmitter usage within homologous neurons represent a mechanism for evolutionary adaptation without large-scale changes to circuitry. Comparing the predatory nematode P. pacificus with C. elegans, this study systematically examines monoamine-producing neurons, assesses how their neurotransmitter identities differ between homologous neural types, and determines how these differences relate to behavior.
Strengths:
The major strength of this work is its breadth, rigor, and data quality. It combines multiple, independent lines of evidence to assign neurotransmitter identity for neurons with homology grounded in lineage, morphology, and connectomics, which is …
Reviewer #2 (Public review):
Summary:
This paper makes important contributions to our understanding of how nervous systems evolve, with a particular focus on whether changes in neurotransmitter usage within homologous neurons represent a mechanism for evolutionary adaptation without large-scale changes to circuitry. Comparing the predatory nematode P. pacificus with C. elegans, this study systematically examines monoamine-producing neurons, assesses how their neurotransmitter identities differ between homologous neural types, and determines how these differences relate to behavior.
Strengths:
The major strength of this work is its breadth, rigor, and data quality. It combines multiple, independent lines of evidence to assign neurotransmitter identity for neurons with homology grounded in lineage, morphology, and connectomics, which is essential for meaningful cross-species comparisons. Additionally, by extending the analysis beyond P. pacificus and C. elegans to other nematodes, the authors convincingly argue that features observed in P. pacificus likely reflect an ancestral state. This depth greatly enhances the significance of the conclusions.
This work is likely to have a significant impact on the fields of comparative neurobiology and nervous system evolution. It demonstrates a powerful system and approach for linking molecular identity, cell-type homology, circuit context, and behavior across species. The data generated here will be a valuable resource for the community and provide a strong foundation for future mechanistic studies.
More broadly, the study reinforces the idea that evolutionary change in nervous systems can occur through modulation of chemical signaling within conserved circuits, rather than through complete rewiring. This conceptual framework is likely to influence how researchers think about neural evolution in other systems.
Weaknesses:
Given the availability of detailed connectivity information for both species, a more explicit comparison of the local circuit context of key neurons would further strengthen the link between molecular identity and circuit function.
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Reviewer #3 (Public review):
Summary:
The study by Hong, Loer, Hobert, and colleagues is a comprehensive description of monoaminergic neurons in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus. The work used multiple, complementary approaches, including immunostaining and expression of genes involved in neurotransmitter synthesis or transport, to identify neurons that express a monoamine neurotransmitter. Moreover, this study characterized the phenotypes of various mutants to study their organismal function. Extensive comparisons are made to C. elegans, the nematode model that, in a way, anchors the model studied here, and new outgroup species were examined for some features so that the polarity of their evolution could be inferred. Although there is no simple or groundbreaking punchline to distill from the manuscript (i.e., other than some things …
Reviewer #3 (Public review):
Summary:
The study by Hong, Loer, Hobert, and colleagues is a comprehensive description of monoaminergic neurons in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus. The work used multiple, complementary approaches, including immunostaining and expression of genes involved in neurotransmitter synthesis or transport, to identify neurons that express a monoamine neurotransmitter. Moreover, this study characterized the phenotypes of various mutants to study their organismal function. Extensive comparisons are made to C. elegans, the nematode model that, in a way, anchors the model studied here, and new outgroup species were examined for some features so that the polarity of their evolution could be inferred. Although there is no simple or groundbreaking punchline to distill from the manuscript (i.e., other than some things are the same as in C. elegans, and some things are different), and while the study is basically descriptive in nature, the scope of the project warrants broad attention.
Strengths:
This manuscript offers a tremendous resource for those who use this species as a model, which, based on the author list alone, includes many labs. This study sets the bar for what can be done in a "satellite" model system.
Given the complementarity of approaches used, such as the position of cell bodies, the connectivity and morphology of dendrites, and a previously published atlas of the connectome for this species, the identification of specific neurons (which, as the authors point out, can be easily mistaken) is convincing throughout. Likewise, appropriate caution is observed where neuron identities are ambiguous, e.g., unlabelled cells in Figure 5, or ambiguous identities in other species, as shown in Figure 10. There was a lot of data to unpack in this manuscript, but I could not find any obvious flaws in neuron identification.
Also, the phenotypic assays were straightforward and informative.
Weaknesses:
No serious weaknesses were noted. One minor comment is that in general, I think the Methods could use some additional text to describe what the goal of any given technique was. For example, although there is a description of the HCR protocol in the methods, nowhere does it say what genes this method would be used for. In addition to what is shown in Figure 4, this information should be given in the Methods.
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Author response:
Public Reviews:
Reviewer #1 (Public review):
Summary:
The authors provide extensive immunoreactivity and expression data to map monoaminergic neurotransmitter production sites in Pristionchus pacificus. This nematode is relatively distantly related to the popular model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, for which such information is already available. They find that dopamine, tyramine, and octopamine are present in the same neurons in both species, but differences are observed for serotonin. This forms the basis for a comparison of serotonergic neurons across 22 nematode species. In addition, they evaluate monoaminergic effects on egg-laying, head movement during reversals, and nictation behavior, to find that monoaminergic control over the latter differs between C. elegans and P. pacificus. This shows that some …
Author response:
Public Reviews:
Reviewer #1 (Public review):
Summary:
The authors provide extensive immunoreactivity and expression data to map monoaminergic neurotransmitter production sites in Pristionchus pacificus. This nematode is relatively distantly related to the popular model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, for which such information is already available. They find that dopamine, tyramine, and octopamine are present in the same neurons in both species, but differences are observed for serotonin. This forms the basis for a comparison of serotonergic neurons across 22 nematode species. In addition, they evaluate monoaminergic effects on egg-laying, head movement during reversals, and nictation behavior, to find that monoaminergic control over the latter differs between C. elegans and P. pacificus. This shows that some anatomical flexibility supports similar outcomes, whereas in other cases it is the basis of evolved regulatory differences.
Strengths:
The comparative efforts are laudable and valuable, including a thorough revisiting of old data and corrections of what is judged as a historic misannotation. The expected continued value of this work is also appreciated, because nematodes have similar anatomies and behaviors, cellular-resolution data of different species permits the study of functional evolution of neurotransmitter usage in homologous neurons.
Despite the strong experimental approach, there are some points that require addressing:
(1) Not all the concepts of the introduction ('feeding behaviors', to a lesser extent also 'evolution of neurotransmitter usage in homologous neurons') are followed up upon in the results or discussion sections.
We will address the relative treatment of particular topics in the introduction and discussion in a revised version of the article.
(2) The choice of nematodes ('only' 13 species) may affect what is perceived as ancestral.
See above regarding ‘13 species’ (actually 22). Most species and genera were specifically selected previously (Loer and Rivard, 2007; Rivard et al., 2010) for broad phylogenetic coverage, representing different species and genera in 4 major clades within ‘clade V’ (Kiontke et al., 2007; Sudhaus, 2011): Anarhabditis (Caenorhabditis, including both the Elegans and Drosophilae species groups), Synrhabditis (Oscheius, Metarhabditis, Reiterina and Rhabditella), Pleiorhabditis (Teratorhabditis, Mesorhabditis, Rhomborhabditis and Pelodera), and Diplogastrids represented by P. pacificus. Among the outgroups to clade V, there are 3 distinct clades represented, each with at least two species and/or genera represented. Therefore, we believe that the determination of an ancestral condition is well-founded. We plan to add this rationale to the revised version to make this clearer.
(2, continued) Also, identifying their cells based on comparisons with Ce or Ppa identifications only is understandable but mildly risky: there are many cells in the head, and mistakes would go unnoticed until detailed analysis in each species can provide conclusive evidence.
We agree that there is a mild risk of incorrect identification but believe that appropriate caveats are noted in the text. Furthermore, the recent head EM reconstruction and complete embryonic cell lineage of the P. pacificus (Cook et al., 2025) shows a nearly 1-1 homology correspondence between head neurons (e.g., only a single head neuron is missing in the Ppa head relative to Cel due to altered apoptosis), and a quite high level of conservation of neurite morphology and soma position between Cel and Ppa suggests that identifications are likely correct when examining related nematodes. In cases for which a serotonin-immunoreactive cell is found in the predicted location (and often having apparent associated neurites), its homology to the matching Cel and Ppa cell is the most parsimonious interpretation: otherwise, one cell would have to lose expression and another nearby cell gain it.
(3) It is not reported whether the nictation-defective mutants have general locomotion defects; therefore, whether the reported problem is specific to this host-finding behavior or not.
None of the mutants we tested for nictation behavior, including those that show severe defects in nictation (Ppa-cat-1, Ppa-tph-1, Ppa-tdc-1, Ppa-tbh-1), exhibited noticeable general locomotion defects either as dauers or non-dauers. Further clarification will be provided in a revised version of the article.
(4) The section on RIP neurons makes sense for Ppa, but not for Ce (dauers in fact have weakened IL2-to-RIP connections) and should be revised. The nictation data also do not support the breadth of the conclusions, which should either be toned down or rephrased as hypothetical.
We plan to address these concerns in a revised version of the article.
(5) The discussion mostly reiterates the results, leaving little room for the author's interpretations and opinions. I would suggest reworking in favor of conceptual discussion.
As noted above, we agree to address the relative treatment of matters in discussion in a revised version of the article.
Reviewer #2 (Public review):
Summary:
This paper makes important contributions to our understanding of how nervous systems evolve, with a particular focus on whether changes in neurotransmitter usage within homologous neurons represent a mechanism for evolutionary adaptation without large-scale changes to circuitry. Comparing the predatory nematode P. pacificus with C. elegans, this study systematically examines monoamine-producing neurons, assesses how their neurotransmitter identities differ between homologous neural types, and determines how these differences relate to behavior.
Strengths:
The major strength of this work is its breadth, rigor, and data quality. It combines multiple, independent lines of evidence to assign neurotransmitter identity for neurons with homology grounded in lineage, morphology, and connectomics, which is essential for meaningful cross-species comparisons. Additionally, by extending the analysis beyond P. pacificus and C. elegans to other nematodes, the authors convincingly argue that features observed in P. pacificus likely reflect an ancestral state. This depth greatly enhances the significance of the conclusions.
This work is likely to have a significant impact on the fields of comparative neurobiology and nervous system evolution. It demonstrates a powerful system and approach for linking molecular identity, cell-type homology, circuit context, and behavior across species. The data generated here will be a valuable resource for the community and provide a strong foundation for future mechanistic studies.
More broadly, the study reinforces the idea that evolutionary change in nervous systems can occur through modulation of chemical signaling within conserved circuits, rather than through complete rewiring. This conceptual framework is likely to influence how researchers think about neural evolution in other systems.
Weaknesses:
Given the availability of detailed connectivity information for both species, a more explicit comparison of the local circuit context of key neurons would further strengthen the link between molecular identity and circuit function.
We plan to address these concerns in a revised version of the article.
Reviewer #3 (Public review):
Summary:
The study by Hong, Loer, Hobert, and colleagues is a comprehensive description of monoaminergic neurons in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus. The work used multiple, complementary approaches, including immunostaining and expression of genes involved in neurotransmitter synthesis or transport, to identify neurons that express a monoamine neurotransmitter. Moreover, this study characterized the phenotypes of various mutants to study their organismal function. Extensive comparisons are made to C. elegans, the nematode model that, in a way, anchors the model studied here, and new outgroup species were examined for some features so that the polarity of their evolution could be inferred. Although there is no simple or groundbreaking punchline to distill from the manuscript (i.e., other than some things are the same as in C. elegans, and some things are different), and while the study is basically descriptive in nature, the scope of the project warrants broad attention.
Strengths:
This manuscript offers a tremendous resource for those who use this species as a model, which, based on the author list alone, includes many labs. This study sets the bar for what can be done in a "satellite" model system.
Given the complementarity of approaches used, such as the position of cell bodies, the connectivity and morphology of dendrites, and a previously published atlas of the connectome for this species, the identification of specific neurons (which, as the authors point out, can be easily mistaken) is convincing throughout. Likewise, appropriate caution is observed where neuron identities are ambiguous, e.g., unlabeled cells in Figure 5, or ambiguous identities in other species, as shown in Figure 10. There was a lot of data to unpack in this manuscript, but I could not find any obvious flaws in neuron identification.
Also, the phenotypic assays were straightforward and informative.
Weaknesses:
No serious weaknesses were noted. One minor comment is that in general, I think the Methods could use some additional text to describe what the goal of any given technique was. For example, although there is a description of the HCR protocol in the methods, nowhere does it say what genes this method would be used for. In addition to what is shown in Figure 4, this information should be given in the Methods.
More detailed methods will be provided in a revised version of the article.
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