Description

Pumps were stimulated with 10mM 5HT in M9 recorded as electropharyngeograms (EPGs) for 2 minutes in a NemaMetrix ScreenChip, and analyzed using NemAnalysis software (NemaMetrix). The null mutant strains kqt-1(aw3) and kqt-3 (aw1) were kindly donated by Dr. Aguan Wei (Wei et al., 2002)
A) Pump frequency in kqt-1(aw3) animals was significantly lower than in N2s, while kqt-3(aw1) worms showed an increase in pump frequency (*p<0.05; ***p<0.01; 1-tailed Mann-Whitney U-test; n = 21-23 worms in each strain).
B) Microfluidic EPG recordings show that pumping pattern in kqt-1(aw3) mutants is arrhythmic, with frequent drops in frequency.
C) Overlay of first 50 pumps of recordings show that pump duration is higher in kqt-1(aw3) and kqt-3(aw1) animals than in N2s. Pumps are showed aligned on E spikes, which occur when the pharynx is fully contracted.
D) Duration histogram illustrating the probability of occurrence of inter-pump interval (E to E duration) for each mutant strain. Histograms were binned to 4 ms width and normalized to reach an area underneath the curve equal to 1 (duration 100% likelihood to occur). In kqt-1(aw3)) animals, the time between two pumps is significantly increased compared to N2s (p < 0.01).