Distinguishing Complex Locomotory Patterns in <i>C. elegans</i>

Caenorhabditis elegans, more commonly known as C. elegans, are transparent nematodes approximately 1 mm long that inhabit soil in temperate environments. C. elegans have 302 neurons that are similar in form and function to that of humans. This similarity and the small number of neurons has spiked the interest of neurological and biological communities. With over 70 phenotypes, it is possible to quantitatively distinguish many C. elegans phenotypes according to different locomotory patterns. Time-Dependent Diffraction by oversampling provides information about the locomotion in the form of a single time-series; nevertheless, visually the different locomotion types are indistinguishable. We investigate the locomotion of two types of C. elegans, Wildtype (N2) and Roller (OH7547), using Recurrence Plots (RP) to analyze the complex dynamics collected. This method of analysis allows us to keep all of the dynamics of motion since every point in the diffraction pattern is a superposition of light rays diffracted from each point on the worm. Through the RPs, we dive deeper into the difference between locomotory patterns to be able to separate these two types of C. elegans.