RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Temporal and spatial factors that influence magnetotaxis in C. elegans JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 252700 DO 10.1101/252700 A1 A.G. Vidal-Gadea A1 C.S. Caldart A1 C. Bainbridge A1 B.L. Clites A1 B. Palacios A1 L.A. Bakhtiari A1 V.D. Gordon A1 D.A. Golombek A1 J.T. Pierce YR 2018 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/02/18/252700.abstract AB Many animals can orient using the earth’s magnetic field. In a recent study, we performed three distinct behavioral assays providing evidence that the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans orients to earth-strength magnetic fields (Vidal-Gadea et al., 2015). In addition to these behavioral assays, we found that magnetic orientation in C. elegans depends on the AFD sensory neurons and conducted subsequent physiological experiments showing that AFD neurons respond to earth-strength magnetic fields. A new behavioral study by Landler et al. (2017) suggested that C. elegans does not orient to magnetic fields and raises issues that cast doubt on our study. Here we reanalyze Lander et al.’s data to show how they appear to have missed observing positive results, and we highlight differences in experimental methods and interpretations that may explain our different results and conclusions. Moreover, we present new data from our labs together with replication by an independent lab to show how temporal and spatial factors influence the unique spatiotemporal trajectory that worms make during magnetotaxis. Together, these findings provide guidance on how to achieve robust magnetotaxis and reinforce our original finding that C. elegans is a suitable model system to study magnetoreception.