Sworms: how nematodes aggregate and move together

Many species of nematodes form aggregates together and collective behaviour is likely to be highly relevant for their boom-and-bust lifestyle. In C. elegans the genetic and neuronal mechanisms behind aggregating vs. solitary group-level phenotypes had long been resolved, and we recently determined the behavioural mechanism too. Using quantitative behavioural imaging and agent-based modeling, we identified three local interactions rules that individual worms follow to aggregate and swarm together. We now ask how conserved the mechanisms are in other aggregating nematode species to peek into the evolutionary history of collective behaviour in this phylum.