Roll maneuvers are essential for active reorientation of
            <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>
            in 3D media

Bilbao, Alejandro; Patel, Amar; Rahman, Mizanur; Vanapalli, Siva A.; Bławzdziewicz, Jerzy

doi:10.1073/pnas.1706754115

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Animals exposed to noxious chemicals applied to their tails accelerate forward ( Hilliard et al 2002 ). In the wild, additional strategies, including three dimensional maneuvers, are likely to be employed ( Bilbao et al 2018 ).…”

Section: Behavioral Strategies Used To Track Toward or Avoid Chemicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemosensory signal transduction inCaenorhabditis elegans

2021

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Chemosensory neurons translate perception of external chemical cues, including odorants, tastants, and pheromones, into information that drives attraction or avoidance motor programs. In the laboratory, robust behavioral assays, coupled with powerful genetic, molecular and optical tools, have made Caenorhabditis elegans an ideal experimental system in which to dissect the contributions of individual genes and neurons to ethologically relevant chemosensory behaviors. Here, we review current knowledge of the neurons, signal transduction molecules and regulatory mechanisms that underlie the response of C. elegans to chemicals, including pheromones. The majority of identified molecules and pathways share remarkable homology with sensory mechanisms in other organisms. With the development of new tools and technologies, we anticipate that continued study of chemosensory signal transduction and processing in C. elegans will yield additional new insights into the mechanisms by which this animal is able to detect and discriminate among thousands of chemical cues with a limited sensory neuron repertoire.

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Section: Behavioral Strategies Used To Track Toward or Avoid Chemicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemosensory signal transduction inCaenorhabditis elegans

2021

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“…It remains to be shown whether these features hold when worms are presented with more complex multisensory inputs, or engaged in behaviours other than the aforementioned action cycle such as mating [ 38 ] or nictation [ 39 ]. Moreover, it is still unclear to what extent the manifold can encode or control the postural diversity in worm behaviour that has been reported [ 40 ], or three-dimensional locomotion [ 41 ]. So far, studies have shown that the manifold is preserved under different developmental [ 37 ] and feeding [ 29 ] conditions.…”

Section: An Updated View Of Sensorimotor Control In C Elegmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensorimotor integration in Caenorhabditis elegans : a reappraisal towards dynamic and distributed computations

Kaplan

Nichols

Zimmer

2018

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a tractable model system to study locomotion, sensory navigation and decision-making. In its natural habitat, it is thought to navigate complex multisensory environments in order to find food and mating partners, while avoiding threats like predators or toxic environments. While research in past decades has shed much light on the functions and mechanisms of selected sensory neurons, we are just at the brink of understanding how sensory information is integrated by interneuron circuits for action selection in the worm. Recent technological advances have enabled whole-brain Ca2+ imaging and Ca2+ imaging of neuronal activity in freely moving worms. A common principle emerging across multiple studies is that most interneuron activities are tightly coupled to the worm's instantaneous behaviour; notably, these observations encompass neurons receiving direct sensory neuron inputs. The new findings suggest that in the C. elegans brain, sensory and motor representations are integrated already at the uppermost sensory processing layers. Moreover, these results challenge a perhaps more intuitive view of sequential feed-forward sensory pathways that converge onto premotor interneurons and motor neurons. We propose that sensorimotor integration occurs rather in a distributed dynamical fashion. In this perspective article, we will explore this view, discuss the challenges and implications of these discoveries on the interpretation and design of neural activity experiments, and discuss possible functions. Furthermore, we will discuss the broader context of similar findings in fruit flies and rodents, which suggest generalizable principles that can be learnt from this amenable nematode model organism.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Connectome to behaviour: modelling C. elegans at cellular resolution’.

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“…Complementing the NemaFlex assay, we also tested mutants in the burrowing environment where the muscles of C. elegans might be challenged differently due to the three-dimensional movement (55,56). In the burrowing assay, mutants are loaded at the bottom of well-plate and then stimulated to burrow through the Pluronic gel towards an attractant on the top (Figure 3A).…”

Section: Genetic Defects In Sarcomeres Can Reduce C Elegans Muscle Stmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the correlation of muscle function tests and sarcomere organization in C. elegans

Lesanpezeshki¹,

Qadota

Darabad³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Caenorhabditis elegans has been widely used as a model to study muscle structure and function due to many genes having human homologs. Its body wall muscle is functionally and structurally similar to vertebrate skeletal muscle with conserved molecular pathways contributing to sarcomere structure, and muscle function. However, a systematic investigation of the relationship between muscle force and sarcomere organization is lacking. Here, we investigate the contribution of various sarcomere proteins and membrane attachment components to muscle structure and function to introduce C. elegans as a model organism to study the genetic basis of muscle strength. Methods: We employ two recently developed assays that involve exertion of muscle forces to investigate the correlation of muscle function to sarcomere organization. We utilized a microfluidic pillar-based platform called NemaFlex that quantifies the maximum exertable force and a burrowing assay that challenges the animals to move in three dimensions under a chemical stimulus. We selected 20 mutants with known defects in various substructures of sarcomeres and compared the physiological function of muscle proteins required for force generation and transmission. We also characterized the degree of sarcomere disorganization using immunostaining approaches. Results: We find that mutants with genetic defects in thin filaments, thick filaments and M-lines were generally weaker. Some mutations did not influence muscle strength suggesting a degree of redundancy in muscle genes contributing to muscle function. We find that the NemaFlex and burrowing assays are functionally distinct informing on different aspects of muscle physiology enabling us to combine their readouts to develop an integrated muscle function score. This muscle function score was found to negatively correlate with the score for muscle structure disorganization. Conclusions: Our results highlight the suitability of NemaFlex and burrowing assays for evaluating muscle physiology of C. elegans. Using these approaches, we discuss the importance of the studied sarcomere proteins for muscle function and structure. The scoring methodology we have developed lays the foundation for investigating the contribution of conserved sarcomere proteins and membrane attachment components to human muscle function and strength.

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Roll maneuvers are essential for active reorientation of Caenorhabditis elegans in 3D media

Cited by 26 publications

References 55 publications

Chemosensory signal transduction inCaenorhabditis elegans

Chemosensory signal transduction inCaenorhabditis elegans

Sensorimotor integration in Caenorhabditis elegans : a reappraisal towards dynamic and distributed computations

Investigating the correlation of muscle function tests and sarcomere organization in C. elegans

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