GravSorter: A Forward-Genetics Tool for Studying Gravity Response in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans exhibits multiple forms of taxis that couple sensation modalities to directed locomotion. Dissecting the genetic architecture underlying these behaviors requires scalable, high-throughput screening tools that convert locomotory biases into robust, selectable phenotypes. Here, we introduce GravSorter, a forward-genetics platform designed to identify genes required for gravitaxis. GravSorter comprises a fluidic system with vertical columns filled with a buffer slightly denser than the worms. During positive gravitaxis, taxis-competent animals actively orient and swim downward, overcome buoyancy, and are collected at the bottom of the columns. Taxis-deficient worms lack directional swimming bias, rise to the top, and are collected there for re-sorting to increase selection stringency. Previously, we showed that wild-type C. elegans exhibits positive gravitaxis, whereas the dopamine-deficient mutant cat-2 does not. GravSorter performance was evaluated by separating gravitaxis-deficient cat-2 mutants from wild-type controls and by distinguishing cat-2 mutants from pharmacologically rescued cat-2 animals. GravSorter provides an efficient and generalizable platform for identifying genes and neural circuits that govern directed locomotion in response to environmental stimuli and for assessing drug efficacy. The underlying principle, opposing active taxis-driven thrust with a passive taxis-independent force, provides a generalizable framework for high-throughput forward genetic screens to investigate diverse taxis modalities and their underlying neural circuits.