Computer simulation of chemotaxis in caenorhabditis elegans in consideration of whole-body movements

Abstract

The tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is one of the simplest multicellular organisms known, with a neural circuit consisting of just 302 neurons. Despite its simplicity, the worm can navigate efficiently to the source of a target chemical — a movement known as chemotaxis. Recent studies have revealed that the worm utilizes only two sensory neurons to determine the temporal and spatial gradients of chemical substances for chemotaxis, but its neural computation mechanism is not yet fully understood. The authors propose a mathematical model based on measurement data and neural connection structure to simulate C. elegans chemotaxis and using a robot simulator platform in order to account for whole-body movements. The simulation results are used as a basis for discussion of how chemical gradients are calculated in neurons.