Adult-specific collagen COL-19 is dispensable for contact-mediated mate recognition in Caenorhabditis elegans

TL;DR

This study finds that a specific collagen, COL-19, is not involved in mate recognition in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans.

Contribution

The novelty is demonstrating that COL-19 is not essential for contact-based mate recognition in C. elegans.

Findings

COL-19 expression is adult-specific and not sexually dimorphic.

Knockdown of COL-19 does not affect mate attractiveness in male retention assays.

COL-19 is dispensable for contact-mediated mate recognition in C. elegans.

Abstract

Mate recognition in
C. elegans
involves the integration of multiple sensory cues to facilitate the identification of suitable mates for reproductive behaviors. The cuticle, serving as the protective outer layer enveloping the entire body, has been implicated in eliciting contact responses essential for contact-mediated mate recognition in males. However, the specific constituents of cuticular cues have yet to be identified. In this study, we investigate the potential modulatory role of adult-specific collagen
COL-19
in contact-mediated mate recognition. Our study shows that the expression of
COL-19
::GFP is adult-specific and not sexually dimorphic. Knockdown of

col-19

via RNAi does not affect mate attractiveness of hermaphrodites in male retention assay, as corroborated by generating two independent

col-19

putative null mutants via CRISPR/Cas9. These findings suggest that

col-19

does not contribute to contact-mediated mate recognition, thereby advancing our mechanistic understanding of the intricate social interactions between sexes in
C. elegans
.

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