Sensory integration of food availability and population density during the diapause exit decision involves insulin-like signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans .

to investigate how sensory integration occurs during the decision to exit diapause, a stress-resistant developmentally arrested state triggered by multiple sensory inputs including food availability and population density. We show how expression of an insulin-like peptide critical to dauer exit reflects the sensory integration process and decision commitment, and we dissect the regulation of this insulin-like peptide's expression. Our study explicitly analyzes the relationship between neuronal activity and neuropeptide expression during a complex decision with diverse sensory inputs.