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The Role of Nutrition in Regulating Aversive Behavior

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Internal processes which govern choice-driven behaviors are complex and remain largely unclear. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans detects hundreds of small molecules to aid in surviving its habitat, rendering it a strong model system for elucidating these mechanisms. Octopamine Succinyl Ascaroside #9 (osas#9) is a pheromone which is released by starved larvae, indicating that an area lacks food. When individuals sense this molecule, they avoid the area by undergoing an innate avoidance motor program. In the presence of osas#9 and the food source E. coli; C. elegans does not perform an avoidance response, suggesting that food negates the osas#9 aversive cue. A dose response curve was generated for the metabolite, and the neuron responsible for detecting the metabolite was identified.

  • This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.
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  • E-project-042915-164052
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  • 2015
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  • 2015-04-29
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Permanent link to this page: https://digital.wpi.edu/show/h128ng109