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Irrational behavior in C. elegans arises from asymmetric modulatory effects within single sensory neurons

Author

Listed:
  • Shachar Iwanir

    (Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Rotem Ruach

    (Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Eyal Itskovits

    (Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Christian O. Pritz

    (Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Eduard Bokman

    (Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Alon Zaslaver

    (Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Abstract

C. elegans worms exhibit a natural chemotaxis towards food cues. This provides a potential platform to study the interactions between stimulus valence and innate behavioral preferences. Here we perform a comprehensive set of choice assays to measure worms’ relative preference towards various attractants. Surprisingly, we find that when facing a combination of choices, worms’ preferences do not always follow value-based hierarchy. In fact, the innate chemotaxis behavior in worms robustly violates key rationality paradigms of transitivity, independence of irrelevant alternatives and regularity. These violations arise due to asymmetric modulatory effects between the presented options. Functional analysis of the entire chemosensory system at a single-neuron resolution, coupled with analyses of mutants, defective in individual neurons, reveals that these asymmetric effects originate in specific sensory neurons.

Suggested Citation

  • Shachar Iwanir & Rotem Ruach & Eyal Itskovits & Christian O. Pritz & Eduard Bokman & Alon Zaslaver, 2019. "Irrational behavior in C. elegans arises from asymmetric modulatory effects within single sensory neurons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-11163-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11163-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Samuel K. H. Sy & Danny C. W. Chan & Roy C. H. Chan & Jing Lyu & Zhongqi Li & Kenneth K. Y. Wong & Chung Hang Jonathan Choi & Vincent C. T. Mok & Hei-Ming Lai & Owen Randlett & Yu Hu & Ho Ko, 2023. "An optofluidic platform for interrogating chemosensory behavior and brainwide neural representation in larval zebrafish," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.

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