Mutants in cilia-related genes have exploration defects.

(A) The che-2(e1033) mutant has an exploration defect like grk-2(gk268) that is not enhanced by grk-2. Shown is the number of squares single animals covered in ~20 h. (****, P0.05. One way ANOVA followed by a Bonferroni test. Error bars = SEM; n = 22). (B) The daf-10(e1387) mutant has an exploration defect like grk-2(gk268) that is not enhanced by grk-2. Shown is the number of squares single animals covered in ~20 h. (****, P0.05. One way ANOVA followed by a Bonferroni test. Error bars = SEM; n = 20–25). The data points shown for WT and grk-2 mutant are the same as in Fig 2F (these experiments were run in parallel). (C) The che-2(e1033) and daf-10(e1387) mutants have a dispersal defect independently of food that is not enhanced by grk-2(gk268). Shown is the distance (cm) animals traveled from the center of the plate without food in 20 min. (****, P46]; shown in blue and green, respectively) have exploration defects. Chemosensory-defective mutants odr-1, odr-3, odr-8, odr-10, tax-2, and tax-4; osmosensory-defective mutants osm-7 and osm-10; and thermosensory-defective mutant ttx-1(p767), also have exploration defects. In contrast, chemosensory mutants che-1, che-6, che-7, odr-2, odr-4, odr-5, odr-7, osmosensory mutants osm-9 and osm-11, oxygen-sensing mutant gcy-35, and mechanosensory-defective mutants mec-3, mec-4, and glr-1 do not have exploration defects. The canonical null allele ocr-2(ak47) (strain VM396; indicated with an asterisk) showed a significant exploration defect that was not observed with the presumably null allele ocr-2(ok1711). Outcrossed strain BJH2763 ocr-2(ak47) did not show a similar exploration defect, suggesting that the ocr-2(ak47) mutation per se does not cause exploration defects (S3A Fig; see text for details). Shown is the number of squares (out of 50) single animals covered in ~20 h, normalized to WT. (***, P0.05. One way ANOVA followed by a Bonferroni test. Error bars = SEM; n = 10–35).