Neuronal serotonin release triggers the heat shock response in C. elegans in the absence of temperature increase.

Background: Cellular mechanisms aimed at repairing protein damage and maintaining homeostasis, widely understood to be triggered by the damage itself, have recently been shown to be under cell nonautonomous control in the metazoan C. elegans. The heat shock response (HSR) is one such conserved mechanism, activated by cells upon exposure to proteotoxic conditions such as heat.