Data from: Distributed rhythm generators underlie Caenorhabditis elegans forward locomotion

Coordinated rhythmic movements are ubiquitous in animal behavior. In many
organisms, chains of neural oscillators underlie the generation of these
rhythms. In C. elegans, locomotor wave generation has been poorly
understood; in particular, it is unclear where in the circuit rhythms are
generated, and whether there exists more than one such generator. We used
optogenetic and ablation experiments to probe the nature of rhythm
generation in the locomotor circuit. We found that multiple sections of
forward locomotor circuitry are capable of independently generating
rhythms. By perturbing different components of the motor circuit, we
localize the source of secondary rhythms to cholinergic motor neurons in
the midbody. Using rhythmic optogenetic perturbation, we demonstrate
bidirectional entrainment of oscillations between different body regions.
These results show that, as in many other vertebrates and invertebrates,
the C. elegans motor circuit contains multiple oscillators that coordinate
activity to generate behavior.

协调节律运动广泛存在于动物行为之中。在众多生物体内，神经振荡器（neural oscillator）链是这类节律产生的核心基础。在秀丽隐杆线虫（C. elegans）中，运动波的产生机制长期以来尚不明确；具体而言，目前尚未厘清该节律是在神经环路的何处产生，也不清楚是否存在不止一个节律发生器。我们借助光遗传学（optogenetic）与消融实验，探究了该运动环路中节律产生的本质。研究发现，前进运动环路的多个区段均可独立产生节律活动。通过调控运动环路的不同组分，我们将次级节律的来源定位至体中段的胆碱能运动神经元（cholinergic motor neuron）。借助节律性光遗传扰动，我们证实了不同躯体区域的振荡活动可实现双向同步化（bidirectional entrainment）。上述结果表明，与众多其他脊椎动物和无脊椎动物类似，秀丽隐杆线虫的运动环路包含多个神经振荡器，它们通过协调活动来驱动行为的产生。