title: The impact of bacterial diet on the migration and navigation of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Can diet have a significant impact on the ability of organisms to sense and locate food? Focusing on the bacterial feeder Caenorhabditis elegans, we investigated what effect preconditioning on a range of bacterial substrates had on the subsequent chemotaxis process involved in the nematode locating other bacterial populations. Remarkably, we found that C. elegans, initially fed on a diet of Escherichia coli OP50, was significantly impaired in finding E. coli OP50 populations, compared to other available bacterial populations (P <0.001). We found similar results for another bacterial feeding nematode species, suggesting that a general "substrate legacy" may operate across a wide range of organisms. We discuss this important finding with respect to the variation in response exhibited within a given nematode population, and the impact nematode migration has on bacterial dispersal in the environment.
authors.affiliation: Scottish Informatics Mathematics Biology & Statistics (SIMBIOS) Centre, University of Abertay Dundee, Bell Street Dundee, DD1 1HG, UK. imy@tay.ac.uk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodger
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: McNicol
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Wheatley
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D016954:Acinetobacter calcoaceticus / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001410:Bacillus megaterium / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D009068:Movement; D017172:Rhabditoidea / Q000502:physiology; D044090:Serratia liquefaciens / Q000502:physiology*