Fig. S6.

Role of adhesion in fission. (A) Representative sequence showing attachment of mucus to the end of a pipette tip. Mucus is being stretched as the tip is lifted up until it breaks. (Scale bar: 1 mm.) (B) Mucus viscosity for various frequencies of stimuli. Both axes are measured on a logarithmic scale. (C) Sequence showing worm slippage during pulsation phase of fission. Horizontal line indicates position of tail adhesion patch at t = 0 s. (Scale bar: 2 mm.) (D) Relationship between waist width and number of pulses. Because the waist width scales with the total size of the worm (Fig. S3B), this relationship shows that the number of pulses is negatively correlated with size of the worm. (E) Relationship between the number of pulses and the center of waist (COW) displacement, which indicates slippage plays a role in the number of pulses necessary to fission. (F) Distribution of number of pulses per fission event for events happening on soft gels. (G) Distribution of number of pulses per fission event for events happening on plastic Petri dishes. (H) Mucus staining of a gliding worm showing a faint trail. (I) Mucus staining of a worm treated with 0.025% Triton X-100 showing a large increase in mucus secretion (Materials and Methods). (Scale bar: 1 mm in H and I.) (J) Quantification of relative stickiness in IO water and Triton X-100.