TY - JOUR T1 - Reversal Frequency in <em>Caenorhabditis elegans</em> Represents an Integrated Response to the State of the Animal and Its Environment JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. SP - 5319 LP - 5328 DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-12-05319.2003 VL - 23 IS - 12 AU - Beibei Zhao AU - Parul Khare AU - Lisa Feldman AU - Joseph A. Dent Y1 - 2003/06/15 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/12/5319.abstract N2 - The locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans consists of forward crawling punctuated by spontaneous reversals. To better understand the important variables that affect locomotion, we have described in detail the locomotory behavior of C. elegans and identified a set of parameters that are sufficient to describe the animal's trajectory. A model of locomotion based on these parameters indicates that reversal frequency plays a central role in locomotion. We found that several variables such as humidity, gravidity, and mechanostimulation influence reversal frequency. Specifically, both gentle and harsh touch can transiently suppress reversal frequency. Thus, reversal behavior is a model for the integration of information from numerous modalities reflecting diverse aspects of the state of an organism. ER -