Worm Breeder's Gazette 3(1): 20
These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.
It remains the feeling of this laboratory that very little is known of the behavior of wild type C. elegans and that detailed analysis of the behavior of individuals still provides the best method of study. We are currently analyzing the behavior of adults, 4 1/2 days + 1/2 day at 20 C as our recent study (Croll, Smith & Zuckerman, 1977, Experimental Aging Research) has shown that age is critical in determining the rates of different behavioral actions. The wave patterns of individuals is significantly altered by L-tryptophan and D- tryptophan (5mM), an approach derived from Dusenbery (J. Exp. Biol. 1975, 193; 413). The patterns are further significantly affected by small temperature changes from the eccritic response. As well as any directional component attributed to chemical or thermal gradients, we are now considering them to be important 'behavior modifiers' in non- directional environments. A full description of defecation has been completed which supports our earlier contention that defecation is a feature of the 'feeding phase' and that its rate is dependent upon an endogenous signal(s) and not upon the rate of ingestion. When not ingesting rapidly there is a spontaneous 'pseudocrap' in which faeces are not voided! Further details (J. Zool. Lon.) can be provided of this study now in press upon request. C. elegans adults respond very strongly to electric currents and potentials between .01-.06 mA and 1.0 to 3.3 V/cm. This is now being investigated with thresholds, habituation phenomena and feeding factors being included. This response could provide a new set of mutants for those in the business of making them. Worms can go either towards the cathode or anode depending upon the current strength. We would like to develop this investigation to see if certain amphid-defective, chemoreceptive-defective mutants had also lost their galvanotaxes - any offers?