Potential Information Processing Differences in Male and Hermaphrodite Neural Networks of Caenorhabditis elegans

Vivian SQ Chia and Maurice HT Ling*
School of Applied Science, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore
*Corresponding Author: Maurice HT Ling, School of Applied Science, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore.

Published: July 19, 2023

DOI: 10.55162/MCMS.05.151

View Pdf

Abstract  

Connectome generally refers to the macroscale connectivity between anatomical areas of the brain to mesoscale connectivity between neurons to synaptic connectivity at the microscale level. Studies has implicated macroscale connectomes in functional behaviours. Although macroscale connectomes are likely to affect functions via mesoscale connectomes, this has not been demonstrated. Recently, mesoscale connectomes of male and hermaphrodite Caenorhabditis elegans have been published. Here, we simulate computationally the mesoscale connectomes of male and hermaphrodite C. elegans to examine differences in information processing. Our results show that the number of significantly differently neurons (n = 28, p-value < 0.05) is significantly higher than random (p-value = 0.00468), suggesting potential differences in information processing between male and hermaphrodite C. elegans. Hence, mesoscale connectome differences may result in information processing differences.