title: Normal and mutant thermotaxis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: When grown at a temperature from 16 degrees to 25 degrees and placed on a thermal gradient, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans migrates to its growth temperature and then moves isothermally. Behavioral adaptation to a new temperature takes several hours. Starved animals, in contrast, disperse from the growth temperature. Several mutants selected for chemotaxis defects have thermotaxis defects as well; these behaviors depend on some common gene products. New mutants selected directly for thermotaxis defects have unusual phenotypes which suggest mechanisms for thermotaxis.
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D007814:Larva; D009154:Mutation; D009348:Nematoda / Q000502:physiology*; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity; D013217:Starvation; D013696:Temperature