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Behavior at the Organismal and Molecular Levels: The Case of C. elegans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Kenneth F. Schaffner
Kenneth F. Schaffner*
Affiliation:
George Washington University
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, University Professor of Medical Humanities, 709C Gelman Library, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052; e-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a tiny worm that has become the focus of a large number of worldwide research projects examining its genetics, development, neuroscience, and behavior. Recently several groups of investigators have begun to tie together the behavior of the organism and the underlying genes, neural circuits, and molecular processes implemented in those circuits. Behavior is quintessentially organismal—it is the organism as a whole that moves and mates—but the explanations are devised at the molecular and neurocircuit levels, and tested in populations using protocols that span many levels of aggregation. Following a brief review of the main relevant features of C. elegans, I describe some of these circuits, and then discuss two contrasting approaches in behavioral genetics and neural network analysis of the worm. Finally, I outline the rudiments of a “field and focus” explanation model using the two contrasting approaches.

Type
Philosophy of Biology, Psychology, and Neuroscience
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Sep., 2000 , 2000 , pp. S273 - S288
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

The research leading to this article has been partially supported by the National Science Foundation's Studies in Science, Technology, and Society Program.

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