Magnetosensitive neurons mediate geomagnetic orientation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Many organisms spanning from bacteria to mammals orient to the earth's magnetic field. For a few animals, central neurons responsive to earth-strength magnetic fields have been identified; however, magnetosensory neurons have yet to be identified in any animal. We show that the nematode Caenorh...

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Published ineLife Vol. 4
Main Authors Vidal-Gadea, Andrés, Ward, Kristi, Beron, Celia, Ghorashian, Navid, Gokce, Sertan, Russell, Joshua, Truong, Nicholas, Parikh, Adhishri, Gadea, Otilia, Ben-Yakar, Adela, Pierce-Shimomura, Jonathan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 17.06.2015
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Subjects
Animals
Bacteria
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans - physiology
Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins - metabolism
Calcium imaging
Electric fields
Ion Channels - metabolism
Locomotion
Magnetic fields
Magnetics
magnetosensation
migration
nematode
Nematodes
Neurons
Neurons - physiology
Neuroscience
Orientation
Reptiles & amphibians
Vertical migrations
migration
C. elegans
magnetosensation
nematode
neuroscience
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Summary:Many organisms spanning from bacteria to mammals orient to the earth's magnetic field. For a few animals, central neurons responsive to earth-strength magnetic fields have been identified; however, magnetosensory neurons have yet to be identified in any animal. We show that the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans orients to the earth's magnetic field during vertical burrowing migrations. Well-fed worms migrated up, while starved worms migrated down. Populations isolated from around the world, migrated at angles to the magnetic vector that would optimize vertical translation in their native soil, with northern- and southern-hemisphere worms displaying opposite migratory preferences. Magnetic orientation and vertical migrations required the TAX-4 cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel in the AFD sensory neuron pair. Calcium imaging showed that these neurons respond to magnetic fields even without synaptic input. C. elegans may have adapted magnetic orientation to simplify their vertical burrowing migration by reducing the orientation task from three dimensions to one.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, United States.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/elife.07493