Nematocin; identification of a C. elegans peptide neurotransmitter with structural and functional homology to vertebrate vasotocin and vasopressin/oxytocin.

By:  Dr. Paul Bonthuis PhD.

 

Two simultaneous reports by Garrison et al. and Beets et al. in last week’s issue of Science discovered a C. elegans peptide neurotransmitter, and two cognate receptors, with genetic, structural, and functional similarity to the mammalian oxytocin/vasopressin (and non-mammalian vertebrate vasotocin) signaling systems.

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