Caenorhabitis elegans uses a system of chemosensation to survive, making it suitable for studying mechanisms of behavior. Octopamine Succinyl Ascaroside #9 (osas#9) is released by starving larvae and causes individuals to perform avoidance behaviors. Starved Young Adult worms attenuate avoidance by detecting an E.coli metabolite. Avoidance assays were performed with metabolites L-Proline and Cyclo(Phe-Pro), and on C.elegans loss of function mutants to determine specificity attenuation. Neither L-Proline nor Cyclo(Phe-Pro) in single or synergistic treatments recreated attenuation seen using E.coli extract, and attenuation was observed to be dependent on the presence of serotonin and gpa-2/gpa-3 alpha-subunits, implicating the ADF neuron as part of the neuronal circuit for attenuation.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Yabut, Jaden Marie

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042617-150603

Advisor

• Srinivasan, Jagan

Year

• 2017

Date created

• 2017-04-26

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biology & Biotechnology

Rights statement

• In Copyright