Dimensionality of locomotor behaviors in developing C. elegans
Fig 4
C. elegans crawling postures are disrupted at birth and stabilize by late larval 1 stage.
(a) Crawling eigenworms 1–4 are identical across developmental stages: late L1 (orange), L2 (green), L3 (red), L4 (purple), adult (brown), except for posterior deviations along the body at the young L1 stage (blue). (b) Participation ratios (PRs) for each crawling tracking session of young L1 (n = 61), late L1 (n = 51), L2 (n = 51), L3 (n = 43), L4 (n = 47), and adult (n = 38) C. elegans. Young L1 and adult C. elegans crawling PRs show a significant difference in means (p = 1.87e-14, Welch’s t-test). (c-g) Crawling eigenworm one and two amplitude distributions across developmental stages: young L1 (c), late L1 (d), L2 (e), L3 (f), and L4 (g) demonstrate the coordination of these eigenworms is not present at the young L1 stage but develops by the late L1 stage. Dashed lines in (b) represent means and interquartile range. Statistical significance in (b) was determined using Bonferroni adjusted alpha levels of 0.03 (0.05/15). Young L1 PRs showed ****p statistical significance compared to all other stages. Significance: **p<0.00067, ****p<0.0000067.