Shared behavioral mechanisms underlie C. elegans aggregation and swarming

Abstract
Data availability
Article and author information
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Abstract

In complex biological systems, simple individual-level behavioral rules can give rise to emergent group-level behavior. While collective behavior has been well studied in cells and larger organisms, the mesoscopic scale is less understood, as it is unclear which sensory inputs and physical processes matter a priori. Here, we investigate collective feeding in the roundworm C. elegans at this intermediate scale, using quantitative phenotyping and agent-based modeling to identify behavioral rules underlying both aggregation and swarming-a dynamic phenotype only observed at longer timescales. Using fluorescence multi-worm tracking, we quantify aggregation in terms of individual dynamics and population-level statistics. Then we use agent-based simulations and approximate Bayesian inference to identify three key behavioral rules for aggregation: cluster-edge reversals, a density-dependent switch between crawling speeds, and taxis towards neighboring worms. Our simulations suggest that swarming is simply driven by local food depletion but otherwise employs the same behavioral mechanisms as the initial aggregation.

Data availability

All data generated and analysed during this study is deposited on the Open Worm Movement Database community page (https://zenodo.org/communities/open-worm-movement-database/). As the full dataset is over 1TB, it is not possible to provide a single DOI for the full dataset. Instead, each recording has a separate DOI, which can be found in Supplementary Table 2. The code for model simulations is available at github.com/ljschumacher/sworm-model.

The following data sets were generated

(2018) Open Worm Movement Database
Zenodo, Open Worm Movement Database.

https://zenodo.org/communities/open-worm-movement-database/

The following previously published data sets were used

1. Javer A
2. Currie M
3. Lee CW
4. Hokanson J
5. Li K
6. Martineau C
7. Yemini E
8. Grundy L
9. Li C
10. Ch'ng Q
11. Schafer WR
12. Nollen EAA
13. Kerr R
14. Brown AEX
(2018) Open Worm Movement Database
Zenodo, Open Worm Movement Database.

https://zenodo.org/communities/open-worm-movement-database/

Article and author information

Author details

Siyu Serena Ding

Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8590-3908
Linus J Schumacher

Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Avelino E Javer

Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Robert G Endres

Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

For correspondence
r.endres@imperial.ac.uk

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1379-659X
André EX Brown

Instititue of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

For correspondence
andre.brown@imperial.ac.uk

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1324-8764

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/N00065X/1)

Robert G Endres
André EX Brown

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.