Effect of NaCl concentration on the mid-body movement of Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans has a nervous system that enables it to explore and respond to its environment, in a process called chemosensation. C. elegans have been observed to be attracted to high NaCl concentrations. In our study, we used treatment levels of 0.10 M, 0.15 M, 0.20 M, and 0.25 M NaCl. Nematodes were tracked in NaCl using a DinoXcope to record their movements. Nematodes were allowed a 10 second acclimation period, and then movement was recorded for 30 seconds. The recordings were then analyzed using the software, WormLab, to calculate the average distance travelled by their mid-body at each of the four treatment levels. We performed a one-way ANOVA on our data and calculated a p-value of 0.122. For the lowest concentration, 0.10 M, the mean track length value was found to be 9.1 mm, while at the highest concentration mean track length was 22.6 mm. Although the average track length increased as NaCl concentration increased, statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the means. Therefore, we concluded that increasing salinity does not have a significant effect on the mid-body movement of C. elegans.