Running hot and cold: behavioral strategies, neural circuits, and the molecular machinery for thermotaxis in C. elegans and Drosophila
Open accessAbstract
Like other ectotherms, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster rely on behavioral strategies to stabilize their body temperature. Both animals use specialized sensory neurons to detect small changes in temperature, and the activity of these thermosensors governs the neural circuits that control migration and accumulation at preferred temperatures. Despite these similarities, the underlying molecular, neuronal, and computational mechanisms responsible for thermotaxis are distinct in these organisms. Here, we discuss the role of thermosensation in the development and survival of C. elegans and Drosophila, and review the behavioral strategies, neuronal circuits, and molecular networks responsible for thermotaxis behavior.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Many biological processes vary considerably over 4-5 °C, well within the range of what is normally considered room temperature.
“because many biological processes vary considerably over 4-5 • C [40,55-59], well within the range of what is normally considered room temperature.”
From A feature and not a bug: Replication failures can lead to new biology (2026) · cites this paper as [40]
In “A note on terminology,” the paper says biochemical processes are affected by temperature even within an animal’s normal thermal zone. “Thermosensory regulation of development” also says locomotion, metabolism, and life span are significantly affected by ambient temperature. Our copy does not establish that many processes vary considerably over a specifically 4–5°C range considered room temperature. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
1 retracted
RETRACTED ARTICLE: A specific amyloid-β protein assembly in the brain impairs memory
Lesné, S., Koh, M. T., Kotilinek, L., Kayed, R., Glabe, C. G., Yang, A., Gallagher, M., & Ashe, K. H. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04533 · Cited by 2,769 · see citing works
RetractedThe structure of the nervous system of the nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>
White, J. G., Southgate, E., Thomson, J. N., & Brenner, S. (1986) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.1986.0056 · Cited by 5,589 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Intriguingly, AWC engages the AIB and AIA neurons in a common, dyadic synapse (White et al. 1986), implying that AWC modulates these interneurons in a coordinated, reciprocal fashion.”
BackgroundDimensionality and Dynamics in the Behavior of C. elegans
Stephens, G. J., Johnson-Kerner, B., Bialek, W., & Ryu, W. S. (2008) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000028 · Cited by 509 · see citing works
Visually mediated motor planning in the escape response of Drosophila
Card, G., & Dickinson, M. H. (2008) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.07.094 · Cited by 309 · see citing works
Neuropeptide feedback modifies odor-evoked dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans olfactory neurons
Chalasani, S. H., Kato, S., Albrecht, D. R., Nakagawa, T., Abbott, L. F., & Bargmann, C. I. (2010) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2526 · Cited by 237 · cited 6× · see citing works
“2007), while the AIA neurons express GLC-3 and are inhibited by AWC (Chalasani et al. 2010).”
BackgroundInfluentialNegative Regulation and Gain Control of Sensory Neurons by the C. elegans Calcineurin TAX-6
Kuhara, A., Inada, H., Katsura, I., & Mori, I. (2002) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00607-4 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Bargmann CI. 2006. Chemosensation in C. elegans. In WormBook (ed. The C. elegans Research Community). WormBook. doi: 10.1895/wormbook.1.123.1. http://www.wormbook.org. · DOI
- Chung SH, Clark DA, Gabel CV, Mazur E, Samuel AD. 2006. The role of the AFD neuron in C. elegans thermotaxis analyzed using femtosecond laser ablation. BMC Neurosci 7: 30. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-7-30. · DOI
- Damann N, Voets T, Nilius B. 2008. TRPs in our senses. Curr Biol 18: R880-R889. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.07.063. · DOI
- Dillon ME, Wang G, Garrity PA, Huey RB. 2009. Review: Thermal preference in Drosophila. J Therm Biol 34: 109-119.
- Heinrich B. 1993. The hot-blooded insects: Strategies and mechanisms of thermoregulation. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
- Shen Y, Sarin S, Liu Y, Hobert O, Pe'er I. 2008. Comparing platforms for C. elegans mutant identification using high- throughput whole-genome sequencing. PLoS ONE 3: e4012. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004012. · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Rethinking the Emotional Brain
LeDoux, J. (2012) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.004 · Cited by 1,594 · see citing works
“…innate behaviors related to survival functions such as defense, reproduction and arousal in invertebrates such as Drosophila (Wang et al., 2011; Lebestky et al., 2009; Dickson, 2008) and C. elegans (McGrath et al., 2009; Pirri and Alkema, 2012; Garrity et al., 2010; Bendesky et al. 2011).”
Mapping Sub-Second Structure in Mouse Behavior
Wiltschko, A. B., Johnson, M. J., Iurilli, G., Peterson, R. E., Katon, J. M., Pashkovski, S. L., Abraira, V. E., Adams, R. P., & Datta, S. R. (2015) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.11.031 · Cited by 760 · see citing works
The Ol1mpiad: concordance of behavioural faculties of stage 1 and stage 3 <i>Drosophila</i> larvae
Almeida-Carvalho, M. J., Berh, D., Braun, A., Chen, Y.-C., Eichler, K., Eschbach, C., Fritsch, P. M. J., Gerber, B., Hoyer, N., Jiang, X., et al. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.156646 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Koo, P. K., Bian, X., Sherlekar, A. L., Bunkers, M. R., & Lints, R. (2011) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.6153-10.2011 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Lim, Y. K., Kim, J. H., Ro, H., & Baek, S. H. (2022) · Harmful Algae · doi:10.1016/j.hal.2022.102315 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
A feature and not a bug: Replication failures can lead to new biology
Marder, E. (2026) · Current Opinion in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.conb.2026.103268
- Authors
- Garrity, P. A., Goodman, M. B., Samuel, A. D., & Sengupta, P.
- Affiliations
- Brandeis University (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- Genes & Development
- Publisher
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Published
- 2010-11-01
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 21
- Pages
- 2365-2382
- ISSN
- 0890-9369 (ISSN-L)
- 1549-5477
- PMC
- PMC2964747
- OpenAlex
- W2145562748
- Cited by
- 197
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 16
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Genes & Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1025307, 0725079)
- National Institutes of Health (DP1OD004064, 5p01ns044232-10)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM081639, DP1GM105383)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (P01 NS-044232, R21NS061147)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Ion Channels and Receptors
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Keywords
- thermotaxis, thermosensation, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, thermosensory neurons, neural circuits, behavioral strategies, thermal preference, molecular networks
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Cold Temperature, Drosophila melanogaster, Hot Temperature, Sensory Receptor Cells, Thermosensing, Caenorhabditis elegans, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Regulatory Networks
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
