The neural circuit for touch sensitivity in Caenorhabditis elegans
Open accessAbstract
The neural pathways for touch-induced movement in Caenorhabditis elegans contain six touch receptors, five pairs of interneurons, and 69 motor neurons. The synaptic relationships among these cells have been deduced from reconstructions from serial section electron micrographs, and the roles of the cells were assessed by examining the behavior of animals after selective killing of precursors of the cells by laser microsurgery. This analysis revealed that there are two pathways for touch-mediated movement for anterior touch (through the AVD and AVB interneurons) and a single pathway for posterior touch (via the PVC interneurons). The anterior touch circuitry changes in two ways as the animal matures. First, there is the formation of a neural network of touch cells as the three anterior touch cells become coupled by gap junctions. Second, there is the addition of the AVB pathway to the pre- existing AVD pathway. The touch cells also synapse onto many cells that are probably not involved in the generation of movement. Such synapses suggest that stimulation of these receptors may modify a number of behaviors.
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The importance of electrical synapses has been shown in several C. elegans behaviors, including locomotion and touch-withdrawal behaviors.
“The importance of electrical synapses has been shown in several C. elegans behaviors, including locomotion and touch-withdrawal behaviors [95], [96].”
From Connecting a Connectome to Behavior: An Ensemble of Neuroanatomical Models of C. elegans Klinotaxis (2013) · cites this paper as [95]
The Results and Discussion (page unavailable) identify gap junctions as important for touch-induced movement, and report that laser-ablation experiments confirmed the functional importance of many touch-cell gap junctions. The paper supports the touch-withdrawal portion of the sentence, but does not establish a separate role for electrical synapses in locomotion generally. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn C. elegans, inhibitory neurons silence the second reflex pathway and annul the effect of reafference.
“However, inhibitory neurons quickly silence the second reflex pathway and annul the effect of the reafference.”
From Corollary discharge across the animal kingdom (2008) · cites this paper as [8]
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- Authors
- Chalfie, M., Sulston, J., White, J., Southgate, E., Thomson, J., & Brenner, S.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (GB)
- ORCID
- Chalfie, M
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 1985-04-01
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 956-964
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6565008
- OpenAlex
- W1904905451
- Cited by
- 1,093
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 62 · 2017: 61 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 55 · 2012: 43
- FWCI
- 1.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- American Heart Association
- Muscular Dystrophy Association
- British Heart Foundation
- U.S. Public Health Service
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM 30997)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AI19399)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Keywords
- tactile sensitivity, Caenorhabditis elegans, neural circuits, touch receptors, interneurons, motor neurons, synaptic connectivity, gap junctions, neural network formation, laser microsurgery
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Caenorhabditis, Interneurons, Lasers, Mechanoreceptors, Motor Neurons, Movement, Muscle Contraction, Nervous System Physiological Phenomena, Neural Pathways, Synapses, Touch
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