Acute Behavioral Responses to Pheromones in C. elegans (Adult Behaviors: Attraction, Repulsion)

2013 ◽  
pp. 285-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heeun Jang ◽  
Cornelia I. Bargmann
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
C Elegans

scholarly journals A quiescent state following mild sensory arousal in Caenorhabditis elegans is potentiated by stress

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick D. McClanahan ◽  
Jessica M. Dubuque ◽  
Daphne Kontogiorgos-Heintz ◽  
Ben F. Habermeyer ◽  
Joyce H. Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Light Exposure ◽  
Light Stimulus ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Quiescent State ◽  
Sleep State ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Epidermal Growth ◽  
Cellular Stressors

AbstractAn animal’s behavioral and physiological response to stressors includes changes to its responses to stimuli. How such changes occur is not well understood. Here we describe a Caenorhabditis elegans quiescent behavior, post-response quiescence (PRQ), which is modulated by the C. elegans response to cellular stressors. Following an aversive mechanical or blue light stimulus, worms respond first by briefly moving, and then become more quiescent for a period lasting tens of seconds. PRQ occurs at low frequency in unstressed animals, but is more frequent in animals that have experienced cellular stress due to ultraviolet light exposure as well as in animals following overexpression of epidermal growth factor (EGF). PRQ requires the function of the carboxypeptidase EGL-21 and the calcium-activated protein for secretion (CAPS) UNC-31, suggesting it has a neuropeptidergic mechanism. Although PRQ requires the sleep-promoting neurons RIS and ALA, it is not accompanied by decreased arousability, and does not appear to be homeostatically regulated, suggesting that it is not a sleep state. PRQ represents a simple, tractable model for studying how neuromodulatory states like stress alter behavioral responses to stimuli.

scholarly journals Transcription Factors That Control Behavior—Lessons From C. elegans

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasoul Godini ◽  
Ava Handley ◽  
Roger Pocock
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Gene Expression Patterns ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Control Behavior ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
Chemical Response

Behavior encompasses the physical and chemical response to external and internal stimuli. Neurons, each with their own specific molecular identities, act in concert to perceive and relay these stimuli to drive behavior. Generating behavioral responses requires neurons that have the correct morphological, synaptic, and molecular identities. Transcription factors drive the specific gene expression patterns that define these identities, controlling almost every phenomenon in a cell from development to homeostasis. Therefore, transcription factors play an important role in generating and regulating behavior. Here, we describe the transcription factors, the pathways they regulate, and the neurons that drive chemosensation, mechanosensation, thermosensation, osmolarity sensing, complex, and sex-specific behaviors in the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans. We also discuss the current limitations in our knowledge, particularly our minimal understanding of how transcription factors contribute to the adaptive behavioral responses that are necessary for organismal survival.

scholarly journals Two parallel pathways are required for ultrasound-evoked behavioral changes in Caenorhabditis elegans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uri Magaram ◽  
Connor Weiss ◽  
Aditya Vasan ◽  
Kirthi C Reddy ◽  
James Friend ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Double Mutant ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Mechanosensitive Channel ◽  
Ultrasound Transducer ◽  
Null Mutant ◽  
Behavioral Deficit ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Msec Pulse ◽  
Molecular Machinery

Ultrasound has been shown to affect the function of both neurons and non-neuronal cells. However, the underlying molecular machinery has been poorly understood. Here, we show that at least two mechanosensitive proteins act in parallel to generate C. elegans behavioral responses to ultrasound stimuli. We first show that these animals generate reversals in response to a single 10 msec pulse from a 2.25 MHz ultrasound transducer. Next, we show that the pore-forming subunit of the mechanosensitive channel TRP-4, and a DEG/ENaC/ASIC ion channel MEC-4, are both required for this ultrasound-evoked reversal response. Further, the trp-4 mec-4 double mutant shows a stronger behavioral deficit compared to either single mutant. Finally, overexpressing TRP-4 in specific chemosensory neurons can rescue the ultrasound-triggered behavioral deficit in the mec-4 null mutant, suggesting that these two pathways act in parallel. Together, we demonstrate that multiple mechanosensitive proteins likely cooperate to transform ultrasound stimuli into behavioral changes.

scholarly journals A conserved neuropeptide system links head and body motor circuits to enable adaptive behavior

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Ramachandran ◽  
Navonil Banerjee ◽  
Raja Bhattacharya ◽  
Denis Touroutine ◽  
Christopher M. Lambert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Neurons ◽  
Adaptive Behavior ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Physiological Changes ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
Concerted Activity ◽  
Stimulation Of

SUMMARYNeuromodulators promote adaptive behaviors in response to either environmental or internal physiological changes. These responses are often complex and may involve concerted activity changes across circuits that are not physically connected. It is not well understood how neuromodulatory systems act across circuits to elicit complex behavioral responses. Here we show that the C. elegans NLP-12 neuropeptide system shapes responses to food availability by selectively modulating the activity of head and body wall motor neurons. NLP-12 modulation of the head and body wall motor circuits is generated through conditional involvement of alternate GPCR targets. The CKR-1 GPCR is highly expressed in the head motor circuit, and functions to enhance head bending and increase trajectory reorientations during local food searching, primarily through stimulatory actions on SMD head motor neurons. In contrast, NLP-12 activation of CKR-1 and CKR-2 GPCRs regulates body bending under basal conditions, primarily through actions on body wall motor neurons. Thus, locomotor responses to changing environmental conditions emerge from conditional NLP-12 stimulation of head or body wall motor neuron targets.

scholarly journals The Tactile Receptive Fields of Freely Moving Caenorhabditis elegans Nematodes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Mazzochette ◽  
A. L. Nekimken ◽  
F. Loizeau ◽  
J. Whitworth ◽  
B. Huynh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
The Body ◽  
Stimulus Strength ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Touch Sensation ◽  
Freely Moving

AbstractSensory neurons embedded in skin are responsible for the sense of touch. In humans and other mammals, touch sensation depends on thousands of diverse somatosensory neurons. By contrast, Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes have six gentle touch receptor neurons linked to simple behaviors. The classical touch assay uses an eyebrow hair to stimulate freely moving C. elegans, evoking evasive behavioral responses. While this assay has led to the discovery of genes required for touch sensation, it does not provide control over stimulus strength or position. Here, we present an integrated system for performing automated, quantitative touch assays that circumvents these limitations and incorporates automated measurements of behavioral responses. Highly Automated Worm Kicker (HAWK) unites microfabricated silicon force sensors and video analysis with real-time force and position control. Using this system, we stimulated animals along the anterior-posterior axis and compared responses in wild-type and spc-1(dn) transgenic animals, which have a touch defect due to expression of a dominant-negative α spectrin protein fragment. As expected from prior studies, delivering large stimuli anterior to the mid-point of the body evoked a reversal, but such a stimulus applied posterior to the mid-point evoked a speed-up. The probability of evoking a response of either kind depended on stimulus strength and location; once initiated, the magnitude and quality of both reversal and speed-up behavioral responses were uncorrelated with stimulus location, strength, or the absence or presence of the spc-1(dn) transgene. Wild-type animals failed to respond when the stimulus was applied near the mid-point. These results establish that stimulus strength and location govern the activation of a stereotyped motor program and that the C. elegans body surface consists of two receptive fields separated by a gap.

scholarly journals Sleep analysis in adult C. elegans reveals state-dependent alteration of neural and behavioral responses

2021 ◽  
pp. JN-RM-1701-20
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Lawler ◽  
Yee Lian Chew ◽  
Josh D. Hawk ◽  
Ahmad Aljobeh ◽  
William R. Schafer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Sleep Analysis

scholarly journals Nanoscale mechanical stimulation method for quantifying C. elegans mechanosensory behavior and memory

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuma Sugi ◽  
Etsuko Okumura ◽  
Kaori Kiso ◽  
Ryuji Igarashi
Keyword(s):  
Economic System ◽  
Mechanical Stimulation ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Vibration Properties ◽  
Stimulation Method

AbstractHere, we establish a novel economic system to quantify C. elegans mechanosensory behavior and memory by a controllable nanoscale mechanical stimulation. Using piezoelectric sheet speaker, we can flexibly change the vibration properties at a nanoscale displacement level and quantify behavioral responses and memory under the control of each vibration property. This system will facilitate understanding of physiological aspects of C. elegans mechanosensory behavior and memory.

scholarly journals A Central Role of the BK Potassium Channel in Behavioral Responses to Ethanol in C. elegans

Cell ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 655-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew G. Davies ◽  
Jonathan T. Pierce-Shimomura ◽  
Hongkyun Kim ◽  
Miri K. VanHoven ◽  
Tod R. Thiele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Channel ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
C Elegans

scholarly journals Behavioral fingerprints predict insecticide and anthelmintic mode of action

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam McDermott-Rouse ◽  
Eleni Minga ◽  
Ida Barlow ◽  
Luigi Feriani ◽  
Philippa H Harlow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Mode Of Action ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Discovery Process ◽  
Crucial Step ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Modes Of Action ◽  
Automated Phenotyping ◽  
High Throughput Imaging

AbstractNovel invertebrate-killing compounds are required in agriculture and medicine to overcome resistance to existing treatments. Because insecticides and anthelmintics are discovered in phenotypic screens, a crucial step in the discovery process is determining the mode of action of hits. Visible whole-organism symptoms are combined with molecular and physiological data to determine mode of action. However, manual symptomology is laborious and requires symptoms that are strong enough to see by eye. Here we use high-throughput imaging and quantitative phenotyping to measure C. elegans behavioral responses to compounds and train a classifier that predicts mode of action with an accuracy of 88% for a set of ten common modes of action. We also classify compounds within each mode of action to discover pharmacological relationships that are not captured in broad mode of action labels. High-throughput imaging and automated phenotyping could therefore accelerate mode of action discovery in invertebrate-targeting compound development and help to refine mode of action categories.

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