TY - JOUR EP - 1682 N2 - Appetitive behaviors require complex decision making that involves the integration of environmental stimuli and physiological needs. C. elegans mate searching is a male-specific exploratory behavior regulated by two competing needs: food and reproductive appetite. We found that the pigment dispersing factor receptor (PDFR-1) modulates the circuit that encodes the male reproductive drive that promotes male exploration following mate deprivation. PDFR-1 and its ligand, PDF-1, stimulated mate searching in the male, but not in the hermaphrodite. pdf-1 was required in the gender-shared interneuron AIM, and the receptor acted in internal and external environment-sensing neurons of the shared nervous system (URY, PQR and PHA) to produce mate-searching behavior. Thus, the pdf-1 and pdfr-1 pathway functions in non?sex-specific neurons to produce a male-specific, goal-oriented exploratory behavior. Our results indicate that secretin neuropeptidergic signaling is involved in regulating motivational internal states. UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3253 VL - 15 A1 - Barrios, Arantza A1 - Ghosh, Rajarshi A1 - Fang, Chunhui A1 - Emmons, Scott W A1 - Barr, Maureen M ID - discovery10204053 N1 - This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher?s terms and conditions. PB - NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP Y1 - 2012/12// TI - PDF-1 neuropeptide signaling modulates a neural circuit for mate-searching behavior in C. elegans JF - Nature Neuroscience AV - public IS - 12 SP - 1675 SN - 1097-6256 ER -