Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39986247›Full record

ReviewCurrent opinion in neurobiology2025

Sources of behavioral variability in C. elegans: Sex differences, individuality, and internal states.

Steven W Flavell, Meital Oren-Suissa, Shay Stern

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Current opinion in neurobiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Autism risk variants inmicroPublication biology · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Steven W FlavellHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: flavell@mit.edu.
Meital Oren-SuissaDepartment of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 7610001, Israel. Electronic address: meital.oren@weizmann.ac.il.
Shay SternFaculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: sstern@technion.ac.il.

Funding

Neural Mechanisms that Underlie Flexible Sensory Control of Behavioral States in C. elegansR01DC020484 · NIDCD · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI Steven Willem Flavell · 2023 to 2026
$1.5M
Brain-Wide Representations of Behavior During Aversive Internal States in C. ElegansR01NS131457 · NINDS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI Steven Willem Flavell · 2023 to 2026
$1.5M
Dissecting the functional organization of the serotonergic system in C. elegansR01GM135413 · NIGMS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI FLAVELL, STEVEN WILLEM · 2020 to 2023
$1.2M
NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC020484NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM135413NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS131457
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Animal behavior varies across different timescales. This includes rapid shifts in behavior as animals transition between states and long-term changes that develop throughout an organism's life. This review presents the contributions of sex differences, individuality, and internal states to behavioral variability in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Sex is determined by chromosome composition, which directs neuronal development through gene regulation and experience to shape dimorphic behaviors. Genetically identical individuals within the same sex and reared in the same conditions still display distinctive, long-lasting behavioral traits that are controlled by neuromodulatory systems. At all life stages, internal states within the individual, shaped by external factors like food and stress, modulate behavior over minutes to hours. The interplay between these factors gives rise to rich behavioral diversity in C. elegans. These factors impact behavior in a sequential manner, as genetic sex, individuality, and internal states influence behavior over progressively finer timescales.

Indexed as

Behavior, AnimalCaenorhabditis elegansIndividualitySex CharacteristicsAnimalsFemaleMale

Identifiers

PMID39986247
PMCPMC12038806

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.