Brain-wide representations of olfactory behavior in C. elegans

Abstract

Olfactory navigation emerges from dynamic interactions between sensory input, brain activity state and the animal's own movements. In C. elegans, a compact nervous system enables brain-wide imaging in behaving animals exposed to controlled olfactory environments, with an undulatory locomotion that reduces navigation to transitions among forward runs, reversals, and turns. Here, we used tracking microscopy to record and compare brain-wide neural activity in crawling worms navigating spatial odor gradients or isotropic environments, and in immobilized worms responding to temporal odor pulses. Across conditions, we identified strongly correlated brain-wide activity patterns spanning olfactory sensory neurons, interneurons, and premotor interneurons. Comparisons between navigation in odor gradients and exploration in isotropic environments revealed a compact functional circuit linking olfactory sensory neurons, interneurons, and premotor neurons. Comparisons between different odors distinguished sensory activity relationships associated with odor identity from a shared sensorimotor circuit for navigational movement. Comparisons between crawling and immobilized animals revealed profound differences in motor-state transitions and brain-wide correlation structure, further demonstrating the dependence of sensory representations and motor decision-making on behavioral context. Our findings reveal a functional organization linking olfactory sensory activity to navigational movement and show how this organization depends on behavioral state and environmental context.

Spontaneous brain-wide rotational dynamics constrain cue-evoked behavior
S. Chen, Y. Xu, D. E. Gökmen +3
bioRxiv17 Oct 2026PreprintCC BYFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv
Spontaneous brain-wide rotational dynamics constrain cue-evoked behavior
Sihan Chen, Yunlong Xu, Doruk Efe Gökmen +3
arXiv18 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textBioinformatics & computational biology NeurosciencearXiv
Olfactory combinatorial coding supports risk-reward decision-making in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Md Zubayer Hossain Saad, William G Ryan, Chelyan A Edwards +8
ELife22 Oct 2026Peer-reviewedCC BYFull textNeuroscienceEurope PMC
The role of translocator protein in olfactory mucosa neurogenesis and behavior
Garett Cheung, Yiqi Christina Lin, Vassilios Papadopoulos
Scientific Reports30 Sep 2026Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textNeuroscienceCrossref
Nonlinear sensory integration drives configural olfactory representations
E. Bokman, I. P. kalij, Y. Waxman +4
bioRxiv9 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY-NDFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv

Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{casademunt2026brainwide,
  title = {{Brain-wide representations of olfactory behavior in C. elegans}},
  author = {H. Casademunt and H. Zhang and J. Laver and C. F. Park and S. Kim and W. Fredenberg and W. Hung and J. Calarco and M. Zhen and A. D. T. Samuel},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.10.29.762753},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.29.762753v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Brain-wide representations of olfactory behavior in C. elegans
AU  - H. Casademunt
AU  - H. Zhang
AU  - J. Laver
AU  - C. F. Park
AU  - S. Kim
AU  - W. Fredenberg
AU  - W. Hung
AU  - J. Calarco
AU  - M. Zhen
AU  - A. D. T. Samuel
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/29
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.10.29.762753
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.29.762753v1
AB  - Olfactory navigation emerges from dynamic interactions between sensory input, brain activity state and the animal's own movements. In C. elegans, a compact nervous system enables brain-wide imaging in behaving animals exposed to controlled olfactory environments, with an undulatory locomotion that reduces navigation to transitions among forward runs, reversals, and turns. Here, we used tracking microscopy to record and compare brain-wide neural activity in crawling worms navigating spatial odor gradients or isotropic environments, and in immobilized worms responding to temporal odor pulses. Across conditions, we identified strongly correlated brain-wide activity patterns spanning olfactory sensory neurons, interneurons, and premotor interneurons. Comparisons between navigation in odor gradients and exploration in isotropic environments revealed a compact functional circuit linking olfactory sensory neurons, interneurons, and premotor neurons. Comparisons between different odors distinguished sensory activity relationships associated with odor identity from a shared sensorimotor circuit for navigational movement. Comparisons between crawling and immobilized animals revealed profound differences in motor-state transitions and brain-wide correlation structure, further demonstrating the dependence of sensory representations and motor decision-making on behavioral context. Our findings reveal a functional organization linking olfactory sensory activity to navigational movement and show how this organization depends on behavioral state and environmental context.
ER  -

Abstract

Related

Cite