Neural Circuits Mediate Electrosensory Behavior in<i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>

Gabel, Christopher V.; Gabel, Harrison W.; Pavlichin, Dmitri S.; Kao, Albert; Clark, Damon A.; Samuel, Aravinthan D. T.

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0775-07.2007

Cited by 110 publications

(160 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(56 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

148

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Femtosecond laser ablation was used to clarify precisely which neurons are involved in electrotaxis, from sensing electric fields to making reorientation decisions and to executing them [130]. The response of mock and post-surgery swimming worms to temporal variations of odor in their environment is consistent with aggregation phenotypes obtained in previous crawling assays [131].…”

Section: Eleganssupporting

confidence: 54%

Surgical applications of femtosecond lasers

Chung¹,

Mazur

2009

Journal of Biophotonics

235

136

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Femtosecond laser ablation permits non‐invasive surgeries in the bulk of a sample with submicrometer resolution. We briefly review the history of optical surgery techniques and the experimental background of femtosecond laser ablation. Next, we present several clinical applications, including dental surgery and eye surgery. We then summarize research applications, encompassing cell and tissue studies, research on C. elegans, and studies in zebrafish. We conclude by discussing future trends of femtosecond laser systems and some possible application directions. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

show abstract

Section: Eleganssupporting

confidence: 54%

Surgical applications of femtosecond lasers

Chung¹,

Mazur

2009

Journal of Biophotonics

235

136

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We found that in the presence of a velocity gradient next to stationary surface, most undulatory swimmers align themselves against the direction of the flow (positive rheotaxis) with their heads facing upstream. In contrast to other tactic behaviors, such as chemotaxis (26), thermotaxis (27), and electrotaxis (28), which require active involvement of the nervous system, rheotaxis results from purely mechanical interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Propensity of undulatory swimmers, such as worms, to go against the flow

Yuan¹,

Raizen

Bau³

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ability to orient oneself in response to environmental cues is crucial to the survival and function of diverse organisms. One such orientation behavior is the alignment of aquatic organisms with (negative rheotaxis) or against (positive rheotaxis) fluid current. The questions of whether low-Reynolds-number, undulatory swimmers, such as worms, rheotax and whether rheotaxis is a deliberate or an involuntary response to mechanical forces have been the subject of conflicting reports. To address these questions, we use Caenorhabditis elegans as a model undulatory swimmer and examine, in experiment and theory, the orientation of C. elegans in the presence of flow. We find that when close to a stationary surface the animal aligns itself against the direction of the flow. We elucidate for the first time to our knowledge the mechanisms of rheotaxis in worms and show that rheotaxis can be explained solely by mechanical forces and does not require sensory input or deliberate action. The interaction between the flow field induced by the swimmer and a nearby surface causes the swimmer to tilt toward the surface and the velocity gradient associated with the flow rotates the animal to face upstream. Fluid mechanical computer simulations faithfully mimic the behavior observed in experiments, supporting the notion that rheotaxis behavior can be fully explained by hydrodynamics. Our study highlights the important role of hydrodynamics in the behavior of small undulating swimmers and may assist in developing control strategies to affect the animals’ life cycles.

show abstract

“…Although, the parasitic nematodes' ability to sense EF can be attributed to identification and interaction with host, it seems irrelevant for C. elegans to display galvanotaxis behavior as soil dueling organism. However, it can be explained that electrotactic response in C. elegans may be evolutionary conserved [27]. In spite of lacking understanding of basic mechanism of electrosensation by sensory neurons in C. elegans, as described above, our current understanding of the behavioral pattern of a simple model organism like C. elegans has resulted in application of this phenomenon to analyze various basic mechanisms of neuromuscular activities and related genes, to analysis the effect of toxic chemical and therapeutic compounds, to understand the benefit of exercise and to sort worm of particular population for research purpose.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Altogether suggesting a possible involvement of genetic basis as stark relation to electro-sensation behavior ( [26], through personal communication). Gabel et al (2007) attempted to understand more about the specific genetic and neuronal basis of C. elegans galvanotaxis as well as mapped the neuronal circuits involved in this behavior. They also found that the electrotaxis is a robust event, after the worms were subjected to EF and the worm moves at an angle toward the cathode.…”

Section: Elegans Electrotaxis Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Genes such as che-2, che-13, eat-4, osm-3, osm-5, osm-6, osm-10 and tax-6 are found to be severely defective for galvanotaxis. Further, the neuronal circuit involved in sensing the electrical field and change of direction towards the cathode was mapped by calcium sensing transgenic lines combined with laser ablation of particular neurons inorder to access the contribution of that particular sensory-motor pathway neurons in electro-sensory behavior (Figure 2) [27]. A recent research by Chrisman et al (2016) explain that the increased trajectory angle of movement towards negative pole at increased field strength is because worms tend to attain a preferred specific EF strength of ~5 V/cm when subjected to electric field.…”

Section: Elegans Electrotaxis Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Galvanotaxis of Caenorhabditis elegans: current understanding and its application in improving research

Shanmugam¹

2017

Biol Eng Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Electrosensation and movement towards a desired pole in an electric field, electrotaxis or galvanotaxis, is a behavior which is conserved in variety of species from a unicellular organism to multi-cellular organisms. In most cases this behavior is closely related with prey detection, predator detection, host identification by parasite and navigation. Electroreception is widely associated with aquatic organisms, but not restricted to aquatic organisms. Understanding the basic sensory-motor and molecular mechanism behind this behavior in model organisms will provide clues of potential application of this phenomenon. C. elegans has been developed as a simple model organisms to understand basic aspects of biology over several decades. Early analysis of C. elegans for electroreception and electrotaxis proved the existence for movement of worms towards the negative electrode in electric field. Following which several research led to improved, but not complete, understanding of the galvanotaxis behavior and mapping of neuronal circuit involved in sensory-motor decision making. Thus, understood behavioral parameters are used in various aspects of worm research such as sorting of worm population for research, analysis of neuro-muscular function of worms in mutants and disease models.

show abstract

Neural Circuits Mediate Electrosensory Behavior inCaenorhabditis elegans

Cited by 110 publications

References 50 publications

Surgical applications of femtosecond lasers

Surgical applications of femtosecond lasers

Propensity of undulatory swimmers, such as worms, to go against the flow

Galvanotaxis of Caenorhabditis elegans: current understanding and its application in improving research

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About