title: A stochastic neuronal model predicts random search behaviors at multiple spatial scales inC. elegans.
abstract: Random search is a behavioral strategy used by organisms from bacteria to humans to locate food that is randomly distributed and undetectable at a distance. We investigated this behavior in the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans, an organism with a small, well-described nervous system. Here we formulate a mathematical model of random search abstracted from theC. elegansconnectome and fit to a large-scale kinematic analysis ofC. elegansbehavior at submicron resolution. The model predicts behavioral effects of neuronal ablations and genetic perturbations, as well as unexpected aspects of wild type behavior. The predictive success of the model indicates that random search inC. eleganscan be understood in terms of a neuronal flip-flop circuit involving reciprocal inhibition between two populations of stochastic neurons. Our findings establish a unified theoretical framework for understandingC. eleganslocomotion and a testable neuronal model of random search that can be applied to other organisms.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, United States.
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States.
authors.forename: Steven B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Augustine
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Reed College, Portland, United States.
authors.forename: Kristy J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lawton
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States.
authors.forename: Theodore H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Tod R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Thiele
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, United States.
authors.forename: Eduardo J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Izquierdo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, United States.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faumont
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, The Vision Center, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States.
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States.
authors.forename: Matthew Cale
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Britton
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, United States.
authors.forename: Navin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pokala
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Rockefeller University, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Cornelia I
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8484-0618
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Bargmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, United States.
authors.forename: Shawn R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8535-7989
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Lockery
keywords: C. elegans; computational biology; hidden Markov model; locomotion; neuroscience; spatial orientation; stochastic neural network; systems biology
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