The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans is a widely studied
Last updated: 9/18/2023
The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans is a widely studied animal model in part because of its small number of neurons and easily manipulated genome Nociception is the neural perception of an actually or potentially harmful stimulus In C elegans it evokes a self preserving withdrawal behavior However repeated stimulation can result in reduced withdrawal response or habituation Researchers compared the withdrawal response to disturbing light stimuli in wild type C elegans and a mutant C elegans line that exhibits a slower response of sensory neurons PVD The given scatterplot shows the data of the percent of animals tested that exhibited a withdrawal reaction to a noxious stimulus consisting of varying numbers of consecutive light pulses Failure to react indicates habituation Circles represent wild type C elegans and squares represent the mutant line Percent of animals reacting 100 60 40 20 Wild type Mutant 10 15 Number of light pulses 20 1 S J Husson et al Optogenetic analysis of a nociceptor neutron and network reveals ion channels acting downstream of primary sensors Current Biology 22 2012 pp 743 753 doi 10 1016 j cub 2012 02 066 Macmillan Learning What does the scatterplot show about the pattern of withdrawal responses in wild type C elegans for increasing numbers of light pulses How does your answer fit in the context of habituation What does the scatterplot show about the pattern of withdrawal responses in wild type C elegans for increasing numbers of light pulses How does your answer fit in the context of habituation O The negative linear association in the wild type C elegans does not indicate habituation The response to the harmful stimulus is more pronounced when the stimulus is applied more times The negative linear association in the wild type C elegans does not indicate habituation The response to the harmful stimulus is less pronounced when the stimulus is applied more times O The negative linear association in the wild type C elegans indicates habituation The response to the harmful stimulus is more pronounced when the stimulus is applied more times The negative linear association in the wild type C elegans indicates habituation The response to the harmful stimulus is less pronounced when the stimulus is applied more times