RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The C.elegans AWA Olfactory Neuron Fires Calcium-Mediated All-or-None Action Potentials JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 359935 DO 10.1101/359935 A1 Qiang Liu A1 Philip B. Kidd A1 May Dobosiewicz A1 Cornelia I. Bargmann YR 2018 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/06/30/359935.abstract AB We find, unexpectedly, that C. elegans neurons can encode information through regenerative all-or-none action potentials. In a survey of current-voltage relationships in C. elegans neurons, we discovered that AWA olfactory neurons generate membrane potential spikes with defining characteristics of action potentials. Ion substitution experiments, pharmacology, and mutant analysis identified a voltage-gated CaV1 calcium channel and a Shaker-type potassium channel that underlie action potential dynamics in AWA. Simultaneous patch-clamp recording and calcium imaging in AWA revealed spike-associated calcium signals that were also observed after odor stimulation of intact animals, suggesting that natural odor stimuli induce AWA action potentials. The stimulus regimes that elicited action potentials match AWA’s proposed specialized function in climbing odor gradients. Our results provide evidence that C. elegans can use digital as well as analog coding schemes, expand the computational repertoire of its nervous system, and inform future modeling of its neural coding and network dynamics.