Three-dimensional simulation of the Caenorhabditis elegans body and muscle cells in liquid and gel environments for behavioural analysis

To better understand how a nervous system controls the movements of an organism, we have created a three-dimensional computational biomechanical model of theCaenorhabditis elegans body based on real anatomical structure. The body model is created with a particle system–based simulation engine known as Sibernetic, which implements the smoothed particle–hydrodynamics algorithm. The model includes an elastic body-wall cuticle subject to hydrostatic pressure. This cuticle is then driven by body-wall muscle cells that contract and relax, whose positions and shape are mapped fromC. elegans anatomy, and determined from light microscopy and electron micrograph data. We show that by using different muscle activation patterns, this model is capable of producingC. elegans -like behaviours, including crawling and swimming locomotion in environments with different viscosities, while fitting multiple additional known biomechanical properties of the animal. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Connectome to behaviour: modellingC. elegans at cellular resolution’.