Modelling learning in Caenorhabditis elegans chemosensory and locomotive circuitry for T-maze navigation.

ABSTRACT: Recently, a new type of Caenorhabditis elegans associative learning was reported, where nematodes learn to reach a target arm in an empty T-maze, after they have successfully located reward (food) in the same side arm of a similar, baited, training maze. Here, we present a simplified mathematical model of C. elegans chemosensory and locomotive circuitry that replicates C. elegans navigation in a T-maze and predicts the underlying mechanisms generating maze learning. Based on known neural circuitry, the model circuit responds to food-released chemical cues by modulating motor neuron activity that drives simulated locomotion. We show that, through modulation of interneuron activity, such a circuit can mediate maze learning by acquiring a turning bias, even after a single training session. Si

SUBMITTER: Sakelaris BG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9269982 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature