The impact of bacterial diet on the migration and navigation of Caenorhabditis elegans.
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.
Rodger
S
S
Scottish Informatics Mathematics Biology & Statistics (SIMBIOS) Centre, University of Abertay Dundee, Bell Street Dundee, DD1 1HG, UK. imy@tay.ac.uk
Griffiths
B S
BS
McNicol
J W
JW
Wheatley
R W
RW
Young
I M
IM
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*