RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Reverse-Correlation Analysis of Mechanosensation Circuit in C. elegans Reveals Temporal and Spatial Encoding JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 147363 DO 10.1101/147363 A1 Daniel A. Porto A1 John Giblin A1 Yiran Zhao A1 Hang Lu YR 2017 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/07/147363.abstract AB Animals must integrate the activity of multiple mechanoreceptors to navigate complex environments. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the general roles of the mechanosensory neurons have been defined, but most studies involve limited types of stimuli, potentially biasing the characterization. Here, we formulate unbiased descriptions of the mechanosensory system by using reverse correlation analysis. We use a custom tracking, selective illumination, and optogenetics platform to compare two mechanosensory systems: the gentle-touch and harsh-touch neurons. This method yields linear filters that capture dynamics, consistent with previous findings, as well as new insights on the spatial encoding. Our results suggest that the tiled network of the gentle-touch neurons has better resolution for spatial encoding than the harsh-touch neurons. Additionally, linear-nonlinear models accurately predict behavioral responses based only on sensory neuron activity. Our results capture the overall dynamics of behavior induced by the activation of sensory neurons, providing simple transformations that fully characterize these systems.