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Neuromechanical Mechanisms of Locomotion in C. Elegans

Student-Run Research Seminar

Speaker: Carter Johnson, UC Davis
Location: 2112 MSB
Start time: Tue, Nov 5 2019, 12:30PM

C. elegans is an ideal organism for studying brain-body-environment interactions, due to its well-described connectome and its limited behavioral repertoire. Its simplest behavior is forward locomotion. While the motor circuit responsible for forward locomotion has been determined [White et al., 1986], the exact mechanisms by which neural and mechanical feedback produce coordinated locomotion are not well-understood. For instance, C. elegans is known to adapt its undulatory gait to fluid environments of different viscosities [Berri et al., 2009, Sznitman et al., 2010, Fang- Yen et al., 2010]. We develop a simple neuromechanical model that allows us to explore the relative roles of (passive) mechanical and (active) neural coupling in coordinating locomotion and uncover a mechanism that explains gait modulation in fluid environments of varying viscosities. The theory of weakly coupled oscillators is used to break apart the relative contributions of each form of coupling and uncover this mechanism of coordination.