3-D worm tracker for freely moving C. elegans

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 2; p. e57484
• Main Authors: Kwon, Namseop, Pyo, Jaeyeon, Lee, Seung-Jae, Je, Jung Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 21.02.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animals; Automation; Behavior; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Bioengineering; Biology; Caenorhabditis elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans - physiology; Cameras; Computer Science; Confining; Experiments; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - instrumentation; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - statistics & numerical data; Interdisciplinary aspects; Kinematics; Materials science; Motor Activity - physiology; Movement - physiology; Nematodes; Nervous system; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Neurosciences; Stereoscopy; Substrates; Worms; South Korea
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057484

The manner in which the nervous system regulates animal behaviors in natural environments is a fundamental issue in biology. To address this question, C. elegans has been widely used as a model animal for the analysis of various animal behaviors. Previous behavioral assays have been limited to two-dimensional (2-D) environments, confining the worm motion to a planar substrate that does not reflect three-dimensional (3-D) natural environments such as rotting fruits or soil. Here, we develop a 3-D worm tracker (3DWT) for freely moving C. elegans in 3-D environments, based on a stereoscopic configuration. The 3DWT provides us with a quantitative trajectory, including the position and movement direction of the worm in 3-D. The 3DWT is also capable of recording and visualizing postures of the moving worm in 3-D, which are more complex than those in 2-D. Our 3DWT affords new opportunities for understanding the nervous system function that regulates animal behaviors in natural 3-D environments.