Program of Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University.
Faculty of Design, Kyushu University;
J Vis Exp. 2023 Aug 25(198). doi: 10.3791/65569.
Animals exhibit dynamic collective behaviors, as observed in flocks of birds, schools of fish, and crowds of humans. The collective behaviors of animals have been investigated in the fields of both biology and physics. In the laboratory, researchers have used various model animals such as the fruit fly and zebrafish for approximately a century, but it has remained a major challenge to study large-scale complex collective behavior orchestrated by these genetically tractable model animals. This paper presents a protocol to create an experimental system of collective behaviors in Caenorhabditis elegans. The propagated worms climb on the lid of the Petri plate and show collective swarming behavior. The system also controls worm interactions and behaviors by changing the humidity and light stimulation. This system allows us to examine the mechanisms underlying collective behaviors by changing environmental conditions and examining the effects of individual-level locomotion on collective behaviors using mutants. Thus, the system is useful for future research in both physics and biology.
动物表现出动态的集体行为，如鸟类的群集、鱼类的洄游和人类的群体行为。动物的集体行为已经在生物学和物理学领域得到了研究。在实验室中，研究人员使用了各种模式动物，如果蝇和斑马鱼，已经有大约一个世纪的时间了，但研究这些遗传上易于操作的模式动物所协调的大规模复杂集体行为仍然是一个主要挑战。本文介绍了一种在秀丽隐杆线虫中创建集体行为实验系统的方案。传播的线虫会爬上培养皿的盖子上，并表现出集体聚集的行为。该系统还通过改变湿度和光刺激来控制线虫的相互作用和行为。通过改变环境条件，并使用突变体检查个体运动对集体行为的影响，该系统允许我们研究集体行为的机制。因此，该系统对于物理和生物学的未来研究都很有用。
