Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 81: Active Matter (joint session BP/CPP/DY)

CPP 81.3: Talk

Friday, March 16, 2018, 10:00–10:15, H 1058

Got worms? Collective feeding in C. elegans — Robert Endres, •Linus Schumacher, Serena Ding, and Andre Brown — Imperial College, London, United Kingdom

Collective behaviour, a hallmark of complex living systems, is often studied in groups of large animals or small cells, but less at the mesoscopic scale. Here, we investigate the collective feeding of the nematode C. elegans, known for its easy genetic manipulation and stereotypic worm postures. In this system, small genetic perturbations can lead to strikingly different population-level behaviors. First, we quantified behavioral differences between the 'solitary' lab strain and a 'social' aggregating mutant strain, using fluorescence imaging and many-worm tracking to probe the dynamics inside aggregates. Second, to understand the mechanism of aggregation, we drew on concepts from motility-induced phase transitions and developed a minimal model. Finally, using this model, we investigated the potential benefits of collective feeding to explain the predominance of aggregating strains in the wild.