Changes in Postural Syntax Characterize Sensory Modulation and Natural Variation of C. elegans Locomotion.

ABSTRACT: Locomotion is driven by shape changes coordinated by the nervous system through time; thus, enumerating an animal's complete repertoire of shape transitions would provide a basis for a comprehensive understanding of locomotor behaviour. Here we introduce a discrete representation of behaviour in the nematode C. elegans. At each point in time, the worm's posture is approximated by its closest matching template from a set of 90 postures and locomotion is represented as sequences of postures. The frequency distribution of postural sequences is heavy-tailed with a core of frequent behaviours and a much larger set of rarely used behaviours. Responses to optogenetic and environmental stimuli can be quantified as changes in postural syntax: worms show different preferences for different sequences

SUBMITTER: Schwarz RF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4546679 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature