mod-1 encodes a serotonin-gated chloride channel; contrary to published literature, MOD-1 activity is NOT required for the enhanced slowing response exhibited by food-deprived animals upon encountering a bacterial food source; subsequent studies have shown that mod-1 mutants (n3034, ok103, nr2043) do not exhibit reduced enhanced slowing and that the behavioral defect of the original isolate and mod-1 chloride channel mutation (n3034) are genetically separable; when expressed in voltage-clamped Xenopus oocytes, MOD-1 is able to form a serotonin-gated ion channel, and when expressed in human tissue culture cells, MOD-1 exhibits behavior consistent with chloride selectivity; a rescuing MOD-1::GFP construct is expressed in the cell bodies and axons (the latter presumably due to overexpression) of neurons in the head, tail, and ventral nerve cord.
Enables serotonin binding activity and serotonin-gated chloride channel activity. Involved in several processes, including behavioral response to starvation; locomotory exploration behavior; and positive regulation of fatty acid beta-oxidation by serotonin receptor signaling pathway. Located in neuronal cell body and plasma membrane. Expressed in body wall musculature and neurons. Used to study cocaine abuse.