title: A network approach to discerning the identities of C. elegans in a free moving population.
abstract: The study of C. elegans has led to ground-breaking discoveries in gene-function, neuronal circuits, and physiological responses. Subtle behavioral phenotypes, however, are often difficult to measure reproducibly. We have developed an experimental and computational infrastructure to simultaneously record and analyze the physical characteristics, movement, and social behaviors of dozens of interacting free-moving nematodes. Our algorithm implements a directed acyclic network that reconstructs the complex behavioral trajectories generated by individual C. elegans in a free moving population by chaining hundreds to thousands of short tracks into long contiguous trails. This technique allows for the high-throughput quantification of behavioral characteristics that require long-term observation of individual animals. The graphical interface we developed will enable researchers to uncover, in a reproducible manner, subtle time-dependent behavioral phenotypes that will allow dissection of the molecular mechanisms that give rise to organism-level behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences, Rice Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Renee M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Brielmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Timkovich
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Helio T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences, Rice Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.|Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: Andreia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teixeira-Castro
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biosciences, Rice Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Richard I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.|Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems and Data Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Luis A N
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Amaral
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008124:Locomotion; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D012919:Social Behavior; D012984:Software