Neuropeptides Are Involved in Elicited Reversal Speed Plasticity in C. elegans During Mechanosensory Habituation

Caenorhabditis elegans respond to mechanosensory taps with brief reversal responses. In past research, speed of the response was averaged over the entire reversal for each tap to analyze reversal speed habituation; however, with this measure, only a modest decrement in speed was observed. Using a more detailed breakdown of reversal speed, we found that speed is most plastic early in the reversal and stable later on. Using this analysis, we found that worms with mutations in neuropeptide genes show reduced speed plasticity during the first second of reversals, indicating peptidergic signaling may be involved in reversal speed plasticity.