Mathematical Modeling of C. elegans’ Thermotaxis

C. elegans is a free-living worm inhabiting temperate environments across the Earth. They contain various features that are imperative in human biology, including temperature sensing. This work aims to improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these temperature responses. We incorporate temperature features into a set of differential equations to create a mathematical representation of C. elegans AFD neurons. The animal uses its memory of the cultivation temperature to perform migration behavior in temperature gradients. Our computational results show how a phenomenological mathematical model can replicate the calcium dynamics of a real AFD neuron during temperature experiments. Using color maps in Arrhenius-based parameter space, we study how our model neuron responds to temperature variations. The findings suggest that intracellular activity observed in response to such changes may be caused by oscillating inputs to CNG ion channels in the dendrite. This proposes a methodology for predicting the calcium response of AFD neurons in C. elegans in different temperatures by utilizing a dynamical mechanism and without requiring physiological details.