Automated behavioural analysis reveals the basic behavioural repertoire of the urochordate Ciona intestinalis

Scientific Reports
Jerneja RudolfMarios Chatzigeorgiou

Abstract

Quantitative analysis of animal behaviour in model organisms is becoming an increasingly essential approach for tackling the great challenge of understanding how activity in the brain gives rise to behaviour. Here we used automated image-based tracking to extract behavioural features from an organism of great importance in understanding the evolution of chordates, the free-swimming larval form of the tunicate Ciona intestinalis, which has a compact and fully mapped nervous system composed of only 231 neurons. We analysed hundreds of videos of larvae and we extracted basic geometric and physical descriptors of larval behaviour. Importantly, we used machine learning methods to create an objective ontology of behaviours for C. intestinalis larvae. We identified eleven behavioural modes using agglomerative clustering. Using our pipeline for quantitative behavioural analysis, we demonstrate that C. intestinalis larvae exhibit sensory arousal and thigmotaxis. Notably, the anxiotropic drug modafinil modulates thigmotactic behaviour. Furthermore, we tested the robustness of the larval behavioural repertoire by comparing different rearing conditions, ages and group sizes. This study shows that C. intestinalis larval behaviour can be bro...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 11, 2020·Psychopharmacology·Nastacia L GoodwinSam A Golden
Oct 23, 2019·Developmental Biology·Susanne GibboneyAlberto Stolfi
Feb 26, 2020·Current Biology : CB·Sydney Popsuj, Alberto Stolfi
Apr 13, 2021·Ecology and Evolution·Joseph D BaileyInes Fürtbauer
Nov 14, 2021·Nature Communications·Kushal KolarMarios Chatzigeorgiou
Dec 11, 2021·Science Advances·Taichi AkahoshiKohji Hotta
Dec 25, 2021·Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology·Koichi MatsuoAtsuo Nishino

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
transgenic

Software Mentioned

Python
Toxtrac
numpy
IC Capture
pandas
scikit
matplotlib
learn
scipy
Arduino

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