Comparison of movement and speed in wild-type N2, VC854 <i>unc</i>-2(gk366) X and CB61 <i>dpy</i>-5(e61) I <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> strains

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans have extensive molecular and physiological pathways that function to induce locomotion. In this experiment, the locomotion and speed of three different strains of C. elegans; wild-type N2, uncoordinated VC854 unc-2(gk366) X, and dumpy CB61 dpy-5(e61) I, were examined. From each strain, nine worms were randomly selected and their movement was recorded. Three sets of 30 second videos of were taken of each organism and these videos were analyzed using Wormlab software where the average speed of each strain was calculated. Using the average speed of each strain, we performed a one-way ANOVA using the p-value to determine significance. As a result, we found that the wild-type strain C. elegans moves the fastest (121.0 ± 21.1μm/s), the dumpy strain (69.2 ± 12.6 μm/s), and finally, the uncoordinated strain moves the slowest (57.8 ± 10.0 μm/s). To explain our findings, we have proposed locomotive pathways for each mutant. In summary, our findings will provide a better understanding of the movement and speed in the different strains of C. elegans.