Fig. 5.

URX dendritic ending branch length/complexity correlates with an increased sensitivity to certain ranges of oxygen

A.) Wild-type URX calcium responses to 7%–21% - 7% oxygen steps. Older worms had higher intracellular calcium at both oxygen levels, but no significant difference in the percent change in calcium upon the oxygen shift. Shaded areas on the calcium trace are 95% confidence intervals. Thick black lines near x-axis show the time intervals used to calculate percent change. Error bars on percent change are 95% C.I. N ​= ​27 for day one adults, 25 for day four adults. p ​= ​0.16 as determined by Student’s t-test.

B.) Same as in A, but with oxygen shifts from 7% to 14% to 17% to 21% oxygen. Older worms again had higher intracellular calcium at all oxygen levels, and had a significantly larger response to the 14%–17% percent shift. N ​= ​23 for day one adults, 24 for day four adults. p-values for 7%–14%, 14%–17%, 17%–21%, adjusted for multiple t-tests: 0.42, 0.01, 0.99.

C.) Bordering assays for wild-type day one and day four adults. Image on the left shows an example of a bordering assay. Day four adults were found on the border significantly more than day one adults, indicating an altered oxygen preference. Each point is an assay of 40 worms. N ​= ​12 assays for day one adults, 12 for day four adults. p ​< ​0.01 as determined by Student’s t-test.