@article {709641,
	title = {Pezo-1 and trp-4 mechanosensors are involved in mating behavior in C. elegans},
	journal = {PNAS Nexus},
	volume = {1},
	number = {5},
	year = {2022},
	abstract = {Male mating in\&nbsp;Caenorhabditis elegans\&nbsp;is a complex behavior with a strong mechanosensory component.\&nbsp;C. elegans\&nbsp;has several characterized mechanotransducer proteins, but few have been shown to contribute to mating. Here, we investigated the roles of\&nbsp;PEZO-1, a piezo channel, and\&nbsp;TRP-4, a mechanotransducing TRPN channel, in male mating behavior. We show that\&nbsp;pezo-1\&nbsp;is expressed in several male-specific neurons with known roles in mating. We show that, among other neurons,\&nbsp;trp-4\&nbsp;is expressed in the Post-Cloacal sensilla neuron type A (PCA) sensory neuron, which monitors relative sliding between the male and the hermaphrodite and inhibits neurons involved in vulva detection. Mutations in both genes compromise many steps of mating, including initial response to the hermaphrodite, scanning, turning, and vulva detection. We performed pan-neuronal imaging during mating between freely moving mutant males and hermaphrodites. Both\&nbsp;pezo-1\&nbsp;and\&nbsp;trp-4\&nbsp;mutants showed spurious activation of the sensory neurons involved in vulva detection. In\&nbsp;trp-4\&nbsp;mutants, this spurious activation might be caused by PCA failure to inhibit vulva-detecting neurons during scanning. Indeed, we show that without functional\&nbsp;TRP-4, PCA fails to detect the relative sliding between the male and hermaphrodite. Cell-specific\&nbsp;TRP-4\&nbsp;expression restores PCA{\textquoteright}s mechanosensory function. Our results demonstrate new roles for both\&nbsp;PEZO-1\&nbsp;and\&nbsp;TRP-4\&nbsp;mechanotransducers in\&nbsp;C. elegans\&nbsp;mating behavior.},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac213},
	author = {K. I. Brugman and V. Susoy and A. J. Whittaker and W. Palma and S. Nava and Samuel, A.D.T. and P. W. Sternberg}
}
@article {709601,
	title = {Extrasynaptic signaling enables an asymmetric juvenile motor circuit to produce symmetric undulation},
	journal = {Current Biology},
	volume = {31},
	number = {21},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {4631-4644.E5},
	abstract = {In many animals, there is a direct correspondence between the motor patterns that drive locomotion and the motor neuron innervation. For example, the adult C. elegans moves with symmetric and alternating dorsal-ventral bending waves arising from symmetric motor neuron input onto the dorsal and ventral muscles. In contrast to the adult, the C. elegans motor circuit at the juvenile larval stage has asymmetric wiring between motor neurons and muscles but still generates adult-like bending waves with dorsal-ventral symmetry. We show that in the juvenile circuit, wiring between excitatory and inhibitory motor neurons coordinates the contraction of dorsal muscles with relaxation of ventral muscles, producing dorsal bends. However, ventral bending is not driven by analogous wiring. Instead, ventral muscles are excited uniformly by premotor interneurons through extrasynaptic signaling. Ventral bends occur in anti-phasic entrainment to activity of the same motor neurons that drive dorsal bends. During maturation, the juvenile motor circuit is replaced by two motor subcircuits that separately drive dorsal and ventral bending. Modeling reveals that the juvenile{\textquoteright}s immature motor circuit is an adequate solution to generate adult-like dorsal-ventral bending before the animal matures. Developmental rewiring between functionally degenerate circuit solutions, which both generate symmetric bending patterns, minimizes behavioral disruption across maturation.},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.002},
	author = {Y. Lu and T. Ahamed and B. Mulcahy and Meng, J. and D. Witvliet and S. A. Guan and D. Holmyard and W. Hung and Q. Wen and A. D. Chisholm and Samuel, A.D.T. and M. Zhen}
}
@article {709591,
	title = {Post-embryonic remodeling of the c. elegans motor circuit},
	journal = {Current biology},
	volume = {32},
	number = {21},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {4645{\textendash}4659.e3},
	abstract = {During development, animals can maintain behavioral output even as underlying circuitry structurally remodels. After hatching, C. elegans undergoes substantial motor neuron expansion and synapse rewiring while the animal continuously moves with an undulatory pattern. To understand how the circuit transitions from its juvenile to mature configuration without interrupting functional output, we reconstructed the C. elegans motor circuit by electron microscopy across larval development. We observed the following: First, embryonic motor neurons transiently interact with the developing post-embryonic motor neurons prior to remodeling of their juvenile wiring. Second, post-embryonic neurons initiate synapse development with their future partners as their neurites navigate through the juvenile nerve cords. Third, embryonic and post-embryonic neurons sequentially build structural machinery needed for the adult circuit before the embryonic neurons relinquish their roles to post-embryonic neurons. Fourth, this transition is repeated region by region along the body in an anterior-to-posterior sequence, following the birth order of neurons. Through this orchestrated and programmed rewiring, the motor circuit gradually transforms from asymmetric to symmetric wiring. These maturation strategies support the continuous maintenance of motor patterns as the juvenile circuit develops into the adult configuration.},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.003},
	author = {B. Mulcahy and D. K. Witvliet and Mitchell, J. and R. Schalek and D. R. Berger and Wu, Y. and D. Holmyard and Y. Lu and T. Ahamed and Samuel, A. D. and A. D. Chisholm and J. W. Lichtman and M. Zhen}
}
@article {Lin2022,
	title = {Imaging whole-brain activity to understand behaviour},
	journal = {Nature Reviews Physics},
	volume = {4},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {292{\textendash}305},
	abstract = {Until now, most brain studies have focused on small numbers of neurons that interact in limited circuits, allowing analysis of individual computations or steps of neural processing. During behaviour, however, brain activity must integrate multiple circuits in different brain regions. Whole-brain recording with cellular resolution provides a new opportunity to dissect the neural basis of behaviour, but whole-brain activity is mutually contingent on behaviour itself, especially for natural behaviours such as navigation, mating or hunting, which require dynamic interaction between the animal, its environment and other animals. Many of the signalling and feedback pathways that animals use to guide behaviour only occur in freely moving animals. Recent technological advances have enabled whole-brain recording in small behaving animals including the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the larval zebrafish Danio rerio. These whole-brain experiments capture neural activity with cellular resolution spanning sensory, decision-making and motor circuits, and thereby demand new theoretical approaches that integrate brain dynamics with behavioural dynamics. We review the experimental and theoretical methods used to understand animal behaviour and whole-brain activity, and the opportunities for physics to contribute to this emerging field of systems neuroscience.},
	issn = {2522-5820},
	doi = {10.1038/s42254-022-00430-w},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-022-00430-w},
	author = {Lin, Albert and Witvliet, Daniel and Hernandez-Nunez, Luis and Linderman, Scott W and Aravinthan D T Samuel and Vivek Venkatachalam}
}
