arXiv:2510.00086q-bio.QMcs.CV2025-10

仅通过单点追踪即可识别蠕虫运动模式,实现无偏自动行为分类。

Behavioural Classification in C. elegans: a Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Locomotion

  • 基于单点追踪数据,用无监督算法自动提取行为单元。
  • 模拟蠕虫运动与真实蠕虫匹配度高,验证方法有效性。
  • 适用于高密度复杂环境,适合神经行为学研究者使用。

1毫米长的秀丽隐杆线虫是生物学多个领域的重要模式生物。为补充体内实验,已有多种计算机方法用于模拟其行为,通过不同追踪技术从运动流中提取离散行为单元。然而这些方法通常需要完整视野的虫体,难以在高密度条件下应用——而此类条件对理解社会情境下个体行为至关重要。本文提出一种新方法,可在不需完整虫体视图的情况下,从线虫运动记录中提取行为单元。行为单元由无监督自动流程定义,避免了预设假设带来的偏差。通过与人工设计的行为单元对比,验证了自动方法的合理性。进一步以基于代理的模型模拟蠕虫运动,评估其与自然蠕虫运动的匹配程度。结果表明,即使仅基于单点追踪,也能提取出有意义的时空运动模式,且这些模式是行为分类的核心基础。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

The 1mm roundworm C. elegans is a model organism used in many sub-areas of biology to investigate different types of biological processes. In order to complement the n-vivo analysis with computer-based investigations, several methods have been proposed to simulate the worm behaviour. These methods extract discrete behavioural units from the flow of the worm movements using different types of tracking techniques. Nevertheless, these techniques require a clear view of the entire worm body, which is not always achievable. For example, this happens in high density worm conditions, which are particularly informative to understand the influence of the social context on the single worm behaviour. In this paper, we illustrate and evaluate a method to extract behavioural units from recordings of C. elegans movements which do not necessarily require a clear view of the entire worm body. Moreover, the behavioural units are defined by an unsupervised automatic pipeline which frees the process from predefined assumptions that inevitably bias the behavioural analysis. The behavioural units resulting from the automatic method are interpreted by comparing them with hand-designed behavioural units. The effectiveness of the automatic method is evaluated by measuring the extent to which the movement of a simulated worm, with an agent-based model, matches the movement of a natural worm. Our results indicate that spatio-temporal locomotory patterns emerge even from single point worm tracking. Moreover, we show that such patterns represent a fundamental aspect of the behavioural classification process.

行为分析线虫无监督学习

Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。