Figures
Escape response of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
Complex behaviors require the temporal coordination of distinct motor programs. The escape response of the nematode C. elegans consists of a compound motor sequence in which the animal coordinates head and body movements to reverse direction and turn away from a noxious stimulus. These studies show how a monoamine neurotransmitter orchestrates different phases of the escape response through the synaptic activation of a fast-acting ion channel and extrasynaptic activation of a slow-acting G-protein coupled receptor. See Donnelly et al. in this issue.
Image Credit: Jeremy T. Florman, Christopher M. Clark, and Mark J. Alkema
Citation: (2013) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 11(4) April 2013. PLoS Biol 11(4): ev11.i04. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v11.i04
Published: April 30, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Jeremy T. Florman, Christopher M. Clark, and Mark J. Alkema. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Complex behaviors require the temporal coordination of distinct motor programs. The escape response of the nematode C. elegans consists of a compound motor sequence in which the animal coordinates head and body movements to reverse direction and turn away from a noxious stimulus. These studies show how a monoamine neurotransmitter orchestrates different phases of the escape response through the synaptic activation of a fast-acting ion channel and extrasynaptic activation of a slow-acting G-protein coupled receptor. See Donnelly et al. in this issue.
Image Credit: Jeremy T. Florman, Christopher M. Clark, and Mark J. Alkema