Department of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Genetics. 2012 Jul;191(3):1015-21. doi: 10.1534/genetics.112.141176. Epub 2012 May 2.
Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion is a stereotyped behavior that is ideal for genetic analysis. We integrated video microscopy, image analysis algorithms, and fluid mechanics principles to describe the C. elegans swim gait. Quantification of body shapes and external hydrodynamics and model-based estimates of biomechanics reveal that mutants affecting similar biological processes exhibit related patterns of biomechanical differences. Therefore, biomechanical profiling could be useful for predicting the function of previously unstudied motility genes.
秀丽隐杆线虫的运动是一种刻板的行为,非常适合进行遗传分析。我们整合了视频显微镜、图像分析算法和流体力学原理,以描述秀丽隐杆线虫的游泳步态。对身体形状和外部流体动力学的定量分析以及基于模型的生物力学估计表明,影响相似生物学过程的突变体表现出相关的生物力学差异模式。因此,生物力学分析可能有助于预测以前未研究过的运动基因的功能。