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Exploratory search during directed navigation in C. elegans and Drosophila larva

Authors :
Sergei V. Krivov
Aravinthan D. T. Samuel
Anggie J Ferrer
Linjiao Luo
Martin Karplus
Mason Klein
Source :
eLife, eLife, Vol 6 (2017)
Publication Year :
2017
Publisher :
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd, 2017.

Abstract

Many organisms—from bacteria to nematodes to insect larvae—navigate their environments by biasing random movements. In these organisms, navigation in isotropic environments can be characterized as an essentially diffusive and undirected process. In stimulus gradients, movement decisions are biased to drive directed navigation toward favorable environments. How does directed navigation in a gradient modulate random exploration either parallel or orthogonal to the gradient? Here, we introduce methods originally used for analyzing protein folding trajectories to study the trajectories of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the Drosophila larva in isotropic environments, as well as in thermal and chemical gradients. We find that the statistics of random exploration in any direction are little affected by directed movement along a stimulus gradient. A key constraint on the behavioral strategies of these organisms appears to be the preservation of their capacity to continuously explore their environments in all directions even while moving toward favorable conditions.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2050084X
Volume :
6
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
eLife
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....5cf97d5ebd602f2d0747957e98bff6d1