title: Dynamic encoding of perception, memory, and movement in a C. elegans chemotaxis circuit.
abstract: Brain circuits endow behavioral flexibility. Here, we study circuits encoding flexible chemotaxis in C. elegans, where the animal navigates up or down NaCl gradients (positive or negative chemotaxis) to reach the salt concentration of previous growth (the set point). The ASER sensory neuron mediates positive and negative chemotaxis by regulating the frequency and direction of reorientation movements in response to salt gradients. Both salt gradients and set point memory are encoded in ASER temporal activity patterns. Distinct temporal activity patterns in interneurons immediately downstream of ASER encode chemotactic movement decisions. Different interneuron combinations regulate positive versus negative chemotaxis. We conclude that sensorimotor pathways are segregated immediately after the primary sensory neuron in the chemotaxis circuit, and sensory representation is rapidly transformed to motor representation at the first interneuron layer. Our study reveals compact encoding of perception, memory, and locomotion in an experience-dependent navigational behavior in C. elegans.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics, Ministry of Education, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, China; Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Linjiao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, China.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hendricks
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gershow
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Yuqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Greenwood
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Edward R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Soucy
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Mason
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Heidi K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Smith-Parker
authors.affiliation: Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair, Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06536, USA.
authors.forename: Ana C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Calvo
authors.affiliation: Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair, Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06536, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Colón-Ramos
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: samuel@physics.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Aravinthan D T
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: yzhang@oeb.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology*; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium