Title: | Effect of interactions among individuals on the chemotaxis behaviours of Caenorhabditis elegans |
Author(s): | Yoshimizu T; Shidara H; Ashida K; Hotta K; Oka K; |
Address: | "Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan. Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan oka@bio.keio.ac.jp. Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City 807, Taiwan" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1477-9145 (Electronic) 0022-0949 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "In many species, individual social animals interact with others in their group and change their collective behaviours. For the solitary nematode Caenorhabditis elegans strain N2, previous research suggests that individuals can change the behaviour of other worms via pheromones and mechanosensory interactions. In particular, pheromones affect foraging behaviour, so that the chemotactic behaviours of individuals in a group (population) can be modulated by interactions with other individuals in the population. To investigate this, we directly compared the chemotactic behaviours of isolated (single) worms with those of individual animals within a population. We found that worms approached an odour source in a distinct manner depending on whether they were alone or in a population. Analysis of behaviours of the N2 worm and a pheromone production-defective mutant revealed that the 'pirouette' strategy was modulated by interaction of the worms via pheromones. Thus, pheromones play an important role in the characteristic collective behaviours seen in the population condition" |
Keywords: | Animals Caenorhabditis elegans/*physiology Chemotaxis/*physiology Feeding Behavior Pheromones/*metabolism Population Density Collective behaviour Contact Olfactory Pheromone Trail; |
Notes: | "MedlineYoshimizu, Toshiki Shidara, Hisashi Ashida, Keita Hotta, Kohji Oka, Kotaro eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2018/04/25 J Exp Biol. 2018 Jun 12; 221(Pt 11):jeb182790. doi: 10.1242/jeb.182790" |