EPISODE 11: Slip the Noose – How C. elegans Dodges Deadly Fungal Traps

EPISODE 11: Slip the Noose – How C. elegans Dodges Deadly Fungal Traps

In this episode, we explore a real-world predator–prey arms race: how Caenorhabditis elegans uses its anterior touch response to escape predacious fungi. Species like Drechslerella doedycoides use constricting hyphal rings to trap nematodes in soil. But thanks to mechanosensory neurons and fast reflexes, C. elegans larvae can sense the noose and back out — if they’re fast enough.


We dive into:


  • The mechanics of fungal ring traps and the escape window before closure

  • How C. elegans suppresses head movement and reverses direction to evade capture

  • Why touch-insensitive and tyramine signalling mutants get caught more often

  • How coordination of motor programmes evolved under selective pressure from fungal predators



📖 Based on the research article:

“The C. elegans Touch Response Facilitates Escape from Predacious Fungi”

Sean M. Maguire, Christopher M. Clark, Jennifer K. Pirri, Mark J. Alkema.

Published in Current Biology (2011).

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.06.063



🎧 Subscribe to the WoRM Podcast for more whole-organism insights at the edge of neuroethology, evolution, and behaviour.


This podcast is generated with artificial intelligence and curated by Veeren. If you’d like your publication featured on the show, please get in touch.


📩 More info:

🔗 ⁠www.veerenchauhan.com⁠

📧 veeren.chauhan@nottingham.ac.uk


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Jaksot(53)

EPISODE 53: Worms on Pause

EPISODE 53: Worms on Pause

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EPISODE 52: Worms in Space: Microbiomes in a Capsule

EPISODE 52: Worms in Space: Microbiomes in a Capsule

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱🚀Today, we are looking at NemaCapsules: a new microfluidic system designed to study how host genetics and the gut microbiome influence C. elegans hea...

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EPISODE 51: The Worm Behind the Wild

EPISODE 51: The Worm Behind the Wild

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at a review with a bold idea.Can a tiny nematode help us protect fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects from an increasingly chall...

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EPISODE 50: Fed by Mum, Built by Ribosomes

EPISODE 50: Fed by Mum, Built by Ribosomes

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re talking about inheritance.Not DNA.Not small RNAs.Not epigenetics.But ribosomes.⸻🧬 The central ideaWhen mother worms experience dietary re...

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EPISODE 49: Glowing up the Worm Proteome

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Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at a paper that doesn’t answer a biological question.Instead, it builds the tools to answer thousands of biological questions in t...

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EPISODE 48: Murder Mode: How a Worm Evolved the Urge to Kill

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Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we're talking about a worm with teeth.And a nervous system that has been rewired — by evolution — to become aggressive.⸻🧬 The central ideaPrist...

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EPISODE 47: When Bacteria Fight Back: Bioplastic Kills the Worm

EPISODE 47: When Bacteria Fight Back: Bioplastic Kills the Worm

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re talking about something unexpected.A bioplastic — something we usually think of as sustainable, useful, even beneficial —can kill a worm.⸻...

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EPISODE 46: Turning in Time: Neural Sequences in the Worm Brain

EPISODE 46: Turning in Time: Neural Sequences in the Worm Brain

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at something deceptively simple: a turn.But not just that a worm turns —how the brain decides to do it.⸻🧬 The central ideaTurning...

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