Moving worms without fluorescent markers were identified and transgene integration was confirmed in their progeny by PCR spanning both homology regions.
Moving worms without fluorescent markers were identified and GFP insertion was confirmed in their progeny by PCR spanning both homology regions.
However, freely moving worms have highly unsteady kinematics – worms typically switch between active foraging and resting periods – and their trajectories are complex, rendering a quantitative description difficult.
Such a crusade might mean, for instance, that drivers would have to rinse their off-road vehicle tires before traveling into wilderness areas to safeguard against moving worms.
By contrast, when we examined worms that expressed the fluorescent marker in individual cells, photographs of moving worms were hard to analyze.
Therefore, electrotaxis appears as an efficient way to quantitatively measure a worm (forced) velocity within a few minutes and a priori in a much more reproducible way than what can be achieved by observation of freely moving worms.
The movement force generation assay is based on deflection of soft microfabricated pillars by moving worms (34, 35) as shown in Supplemental Fig. S2.
A modified habituation assay was used in which a forward moving worm was gently touched on the anterior with an eyelash hair causing the worm to move backwards [ 22].
We quantified four additional behavioral responses of a forward moving worm when presented with a thermal pulse by calculating the transition probabilities FF, FR, FO, and FP (that is, forward to forward, reversal, omega turn, and pause respectively).
"Mphela's nickname is Killer," notes Julian Beffon, "Of slow-moving worms and high-flying insects, I fear".
