Most heritable behavioral traits have a complex genetic basis, but few multigenic traits are understood at a molecular level. Here we show that the C. elegans strains N2 and CB4856 have opposite behavioral responses to simultaneous changes in environmental O2 and CO2. We identify two quantitative trait loci (QTL) that affect this trait, and map each QTL to a single-gene polymorphism. One gene, npr-1, encodes a previously described neuropeptide receptor whose high activity in N2 promotes CO2 avoidance. The second gene, glb-5, encodes a neuronal globin domain protein whose high activity in CB4856 modifies behavioral responses to O2 and combined O2/CO2 stimuli. glb-5 acts in O2–sensing neurons to increase O2-evoked calcium signals, implicating globins in sensory signaling. An analysis of wild C. elegans strains indicates that the N2 alleles of npr-1 and glb-5 arose recently in the same strain background, possibly as an adaptation to laboratory conditions.
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