Mechanisms and Functions of Brain-Body-Environment Interactions in C. elegans

Large-scale neuronal activity recordings have revealed that widespread neuronal activity patterns across the brain encode movement parameters. The brain-wide behavioural representations are also implicated in sensory processing. These findings are universal across the animal kingdom from worms to mammals, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The ERC-funded elegansBrainBodyEnvi project will use roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as an animal model to apply a combination of brain-wide, single-cell resolution Ca2+-imaging and genetic manipulation in freely behaving animals. The study in worms provides an opportunity to elucidate the universal functions of brain-wide behavioural representations. The goal is to establish fundamental principles and formulate working hypotheses for future studies in more complex model organisms and brains.