A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegans
Abrupt changes in behavior can often be associated with changes in underlying behavioral states. When placed off food, the foraging behavior of C. elegans can be described as a change between an initial local-search behavior characterized by a high rate of reorientations, followed by a global-search...
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-07-01
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/104972 |
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| author | Andrew Margolis Andrew Gordus |
| author_facet | Andrew Margolis Andrew Gordus |
| author_sort | Andrew Margolis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abrupt changes in behavior can often be associated with changes in underlying behavioral states. When placed off food, the foraging behavior of C. elegans can be described as a change between an initial local-search behavior characterized by a high rate of reorientations, followed by a global-search behavior characterized by sparse reorientations. This is commonly observed in individual worms, but when numerous worms are characterized, only about half appear to exhibit this behavior. We propose an alternative model that predicts both abrupt and continuous changes to reorientation that do not rely on behavioral states. This model is inspired by molecular dynamics modeling that defines the foraging reorientation rate as a decaying parameter. By stochastically sampling from the time interval probability distribution defined by this rate, both abrupt and gradual changes to reorientation rates can occur, matching experimentally observed results. Crucially, this model does not depend on behavioral states or information accumulation. Even though abrupt behavioral changes do occur, they are not necessarily indicative of abrupt changes in behavioral states, especially when abrupt changes are not universally observed in the population. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-afb5854925dc44d38ff4641b3a2f6286 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj-art-afb5854925dc44d38ff4641b3a2f62862025-08-20T02:46:24ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-07-011410.7554/eLife.104972A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegansAndrew Margolis0https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9817-7147Andrew Gordus1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5550-0286Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States; David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States; Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United StatesAbrupt changes in behavior can often be associated with changes in underlying behavioral states. When placed off food, the foraging behavior of C. elegans can be described as a change between an initial local-search behavior characterized by a high rate of reorientations, followed by a global-search behavior characterized by sparse reorientations. This is commonly observed in individual worms, but when numerous worms are characterized, only about half appear to exhibit this behavior. We propose an alternative model that predicts both abrupt and continuous changes to reorientation that do not rely on behavioral states. This model is inspired by molecular dynamics modeling that defines the foraging reorientation rate as a decaying parameter. By stochastically sampling from the time interval probability distribution defined by this rate, both abrupt and gradual changes to reorientation rates can occur, matching experimentally observed results. Crucially, this model does not depend on behavioral states or information accumulation. Even though abrupt behavioral changes do occur, they are not necessarily indicative of abrupt changes in behavioral states, especially when abrupt changes are not universally observed in the population.https://elifesciences.org/articles/104972behaviorinternal statestochasticGillespieforaging |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Margolis Andrew Gordus A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegans eLife behavior internal state stochastic Gillespie foraging |
| title | A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegans |
| title_full | A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegans |
| title_fullStr | A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegans |
| title_full_unstemmed | A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegans |
| title_short | A stochastic explanation for observed local-to-global foraging states in Caenorhabditis elegans |
| title_sort | stochastic explanation for observed local to global foraging states in caenorhabditis elegans |
| topic | behavior internal state stochastic Gillespie foraging |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/104972 |
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