Innexins in invertebrates are considered to play roles similar to those of connexins and pannexins in vertebrates. However, it remains poorly understood how innexins function in biological phenomena including their function in the nervous systems. Here, we identified inx-4, a member of the innexin family in C. elegans, by a forward screening of thermotaxis-defective mutants. The inx-4 mutants exhibited abnormal migration to a temperature slightly higher than the cultivation temperature, called mild thermophilic behavior. Rescue experiments revealed that INX-4 acts in the major thermosensory neuron AFD to regulate thermotaxis behavior. INX-4::GFP fusion protein localized exclusively along axons in AFD neurons. In addition, over-expression of INX-4 in AFD neurons induced a cryophilic behavior, which is opposite to inx-4 mutants. Our findings suggest that INX-4/Innexin in AFD may fine-tune the execution of thermotaxis behavior when moving to desired temperatures.

中文翻译：

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秀丽隐杆线虫INX-4 / Innexin是热出租车行为中温度方向的微调所必需的。

无脊椎动物中的Innexins被认为与脊椎动物中的connexins和pannexins具有相似的作用。但是，人们仍然不了解内毒素在生物现象中的功能，包括它们在神经系统中的功能。在这里，我们通过对热出租车缺陷型突变体的正向筛选，鉴定了秀丽隐杆线虫中内毒素家族的成员inx-4。inx-4突变体表现出异常迁移到略高于培养温度的温度，这称为温和的嗜热行为。救援实验表明，INX-4在主要的热感觉神经元AFD中起作用，以调节热出租车行为。INX-4 :: GFP融合蛋白仅沿AFD神经元的轴突定位。此外，在AFD神经元中过表达INX-4会引起低温行为，这与inx-4突变体相反。