Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: Foraging animals have to locate food sources that are usually patchily distributed and subject to competition. Deciding when to leave a food patch is challenging and requires the animal to integrate information about food availability with cues signaling the presence of other individuals (e.g., pheromones). To study how social information transmitted via pheromones can aid foraging decisions, we investigated the behavioral responses of the model animal Caenorhabditis elegans to food depletion and pheromone accumulation in food patches. We experimentally show that animals consuming a food patch leave it at different times and that the leaving time affects the animal preference for its pheromones. In particular, worms leaving early are attracted to their pheromones, while worms leavin

SUBMITTER: Dal Bello M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8260229 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature