Analysis of chemotaxis in the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans by countercurrent separation

✍ Scribed by Dusenbery, David B.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 532 KB
• Volume: 188
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1401880105

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

C. elegans responds to several common chemicals. Comparisons of pairs of ions at equivalent concentrations indicated orders of attractiveness of:
The least attractive pair of ions, calcium acetate, is attractive, indicating all these ions are attractive. The most attractive pair, sodium chloride, was attractive from a threshold of 0.1 mM to at least 50 mM. The response to NaCl was maximal throughout the temperature range 15 to 25°C and the pH range 3.0 to 9.0. Acid was avoided and base was attractive from concentrations of 0.1 to 1 mM. Dissolved CO~2~ in the concentration range 0.1 to 1 mM was attractive in 10 mM sodium borate buffer, pH 8.8, but avoided in 25 mM potassium phosphate, pH 6.0. All these responses are likely to affect the distribution of C. elegans in nature and they also provide a tool for promising studies in neurogenetics.