Behavioral analysis in caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Behavior is an eventual output of animals’ responses to environmental stimuli and is also an outcome of highly orchestrated mechanisms with different levels. Understanding the principles of behavioral regulation thus requires the illumination of such mechanisms from multiple angles. Model animals provide practical solutions for this requirement by accumulating different aspects of knowledge about focused animal. In this chapter, we introduce behavioral analyses for Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), the simplest multicellular model animal, which is useful for various kinds of studies. We can incorporate different kinds of approaches to shed light on the mechanisms of behavioral regulation by using this convenient model animal. This chapter presents description of typical population analysis, single animal analysis, use of genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECI), and combination of these approaches for the study of C. elegans behavior. Computerized automated methods are also mentioned for efficient experimental design © Springer Japan 2013.