Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans
Foraging animals have to locate food sources that are usually patchily distributed and subject to competition. Deciding when to leave a food patch is challenging and requires the animal to integrate information about food availability with cues signaling the presence of other individuals (e.g., pher...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2021-07-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/58144 |
| _version_ | 1797997477560844288 |
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| author | Martina Dal Bello Alfonso Pérez-Escudero Frank C Schroeder Jeff Gore |
| author_facet | Martina Dal Bello Alfonso Pérez-Escudero Frank C Schroeder Jeff Gore |
| author_sort | Martina Dal Bello |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Foraging animals have to locate food sources that are usually patchily distributed and subject to competition. Deciding when to leave a food patch is challenging and requires the animal to integrate information about food availability with cues signaling the presence of other individuals (e.g., pheromones). To study how social information transmitted via pheromones can aid foraging decisions, we investigated the behavioral responses of the model animal Caenorhabditis elegans to food depletion and pheromone accumulation in food patches. We experimentally show that animals consuming a food patch leave it at different times and that the leaving time affects the animal preference for its pheromones. In particular, worms leaving early are attracted to their pheromones, while worms leaving later are repelled by them. We further demonstrate that the inversion from attraction to repulsion depends on associative learning and, by implementing a simple model, we highlight that it is an adaptive solution to optimize food intake during foraging. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:33:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-562a921d7db04fb4a193d08c0f1eed0e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:33:38Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-562a921d7db04fb4a193d08c0f1eed0e2022-12-22T04:29:21ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2021-07-011010.7554/eLife.58144Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegansMartina Dal Bello0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3706-2929Alfonso Pérez-Escudero1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4782-6139Frank C Schroeder2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4420-0237Jeff Gore3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555Physics of Living Systems Group, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United StatesPhysics of Living Systems Group, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States; Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse; CNRS; UPS, Toulouse, FranceBoyce Thompson Institute and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, New York, United StatesPhysics of Living Systems Group, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United StatesForaging animals have to locate food sources that are usually patchily distributed and subject to competition. Deciding when to leave a food patch is challenging and requires the animal to integrate information about food availability with cues signaling the presence of other individuals (e.g., pheromones). To study how social information transmitted via pheromones can aid foraging decisions, we investigated the behavioral responses of the model animal Caenorhabditis elegans to food depletion and pheromone accumulation in food patches. We experimentally show that animals consuming a food patch leave it at different times and that the leaving time affects the animal preference for its pheromones. In particular, worms leaving early are attracted to their pheromones, while worms leaving later are repelled by them. We further demonstrate that the inversion from attraction to repulsion depends on associative learning and, by implementing a simple model, we highlight that it is an adaptive solution to optimize food intake during foraging.https://elifesciences.org/articles/58144pheromonesoptimal foragingbehavioral plasticityassociative learningpheromone valence |
| spellingShingle | Martina Dal Bello Alfonso Pérez-Escudero Frank C Schroeder Jeff Gore Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans eLife pheromones optimal foraging behavioral plasticity associative learning pheromone valence |
| title | Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans |
| title_full | Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans |
| title_fullStr | Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans |
| title_short | Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans |
| title_sort | inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in c elegans |
| topic | pheromones optimal foraging behavioral plasticity associative learning pheromone valence |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/58144 |
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