Figure 1. AIY regulates locomotion speed and direction-switch.
(A) Schematic showing the connectivity of the 1st layer interneurons.
(B) Laser ablation. n ≥5. *p<0.03; **p<0.0005 (ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD test).
(C) Laser ablation shows that AIY is important for locomotion speed. n ≥5. **p<0.0001 (ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD test).
(D) Optogenetic inhibition or stimulation of AIY promotes or suppress reversal initiation, respectively. Worms expressing NpHR or ChR2 as a transgene specifically in AIY were tested for reversal initiation triggered by yellow or blue light (5 s pulse). Control: non-transgenic siblings (a similar control result was obtained by assaying the transgenic animals reared on retinal-free plates). The low level of reversal events in the control resulted from spontaneous reversals. n=5. **p<0.0001 (t test).
(E–F) Optogenetic stimulation of AIY promotes locomotion speed. Worms expressing ChR2 as a transgene specifically in AIY were tested under blue light (30 s pulse). Control: non-transgenic siblings. (E) Forward speed traces. The shades along the traces represent error bars. For clarity, the very few reversal events were removed. (F) Bar graph. n ≥22. **p<0.0001 (t test).
All error bars: SEM.
Also see Figure S1.