Sex Alters Hypoxic Responses in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The expression of shared behaviors can exhibit sexual dimorphism, which is often mediated by neuronal sex. However, the role of behavioral entrainment by environmental conditions as a function of underlying sex has been less studied. Here, we demonstrate that Caenorhabditis elegans males are more resistant to long-term hypoxic injury than hermaphrodites and that their locomotory speed exhibits reduced sensitivity to acute changes in oxygen. Using cell-specific sex reversal, we investigated whether neuronal biological sex influences oxygen-dependent locomotory behavior. These data suggest that the overexpression of sex determination pathway components can modify hypoxic behavioral responses independently of underlying biological sex.