Characterization of Different Dynamic Modes of a Crawling Caenorhabditis Elegans by Direct Measurement of Traction Force

The traction force microscopy (TFM) is a technique widely used to measure cellular traction forces that are closely related to cell migration, mechanical signaling, and other cellular functions. We apply the TFM to characterize the dynamic force patterns in different crawling modes of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) on soft gel matrices of different stiffness. When C. elegans crawls forward, it concentrates the thrust force to localized regions along the body rather than forming a uniform load distribution in its lateral direction. The dynamic force distributions appeared differentially in different behavioral modes of C. elegans including the forward, backward movement, as well as a sharp turn called the Ω-turn. Such dynamic behaviors of C. elegans might be considered as an effort to minimize drag resistance by reducing contact area between its body and gel surface, and these observations are very similar to recent experimental study suggested for the slithering of snake on flat surface. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) grant 2013-012420 (J. Park) and 2010-0016886 (S. Ahn and J. Shin).