Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

The Emergent Connectome in Caenorhabditis elegans Embryogenesis

DevoWorm Group, Bradly J. Alicea
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/146035
-;
Bradly J. Alicea
Orthogonal Research and Education Laboratory
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: bradly.alicea@outlook.com
  • Abstract
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

The relatively new field of connectomics provides us with a unique window into nervous system function. In the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, this promise is even greater due to the relatively small number of cells (302) in its nervous system. While the adult C. elegans connectome has been characterized, the emergence of these networks in development has yet to be established. In this paper, we approach this problem using secondary data describing the birth times of terminally-differentiated cells as they appear in the embryo and a connectomics model for nervous system cells in the adult hermaphrodite. By combining these two sources of data, we can better understand patterns that emerge in an incipient connectome. This includes identifying at what point in embryogenesis the cells of a connectome first comes into being, potentially observing some of the earliest neuron-neuron interactions, and making comparisons between the formally-defined connectome and developmental cell lineages. An analysis is also conducted to root terminally-differentiated cells in their developmental cell lineage precursors. This reveals subnetworks with different properties at 300 minutes of embryogenesis. Additional investigations reveal the spatial position of neuronal cells born during pre-hatch development, both within and outside the connectome model, in the context of all developmental cells in the embryo. Overall, these analyses reveal important information about the birth order of specific cells in the connectome, key building blocks of global connectivity, and how these structures correspond to key events in early development.

Footnotes

  • Rewrote parts of the paper, removed references to the "interactome", and reanalyzed the data. Includes new tables, figures, and visualizations.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted September 20, 2018.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The Emergent Connectome in Caenorhabditis elegans Embryogenesis
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
Share
The Emergent Connectome in Caenorhabditis elegans Embryogenesis
DevoWorm Group, Bradly J. Alicea
bioRxiv 146035; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/146035
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
The Emergent Connectome in Caenorhabditis elegans Embryogenesis
DevoWorm Group, Bradly J. Alicea
bioRxiv 146035; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/146035

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Bioinformatics
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (996)
  • Biochemistry (1485)
  • Bioengineering (941)
  • Bioinformatics (6806)
  • Biophysics (2414)
  • Cancer Biology (1782)
  • Cell Biology (2518)
  • Clinical Trials (106)
  • Developmental Biology (1685)
  • Ecology (2556)
  • Epidemiology (1489)
  • Evolutionary Biology (5006)
  • Genetics (3603)
  • Genomics (4618)
  • Immunology (1159)
  • Microbiology (4228)
  • Molecular Biology (1618)
  • Neuroscience (10753)
  • Paleontology (81)
  • Pathology (236)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (407)
  • Physiology (553)
  • Plant Biology (1448)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (410)
  • Synthetic Biology (542)
  • Systems Biology (1870)
  • Zoology (258)