Experimental overview and measurement workflow. (A) Schematic of C. elegans body-wall musculature showing anterior (head), mid-body, and posterior (tail) regions analyzed. (B) Representative bright-field stills of worms during crawling on agar (left) and (C) swimming in liquid (right), illustrating posture and curvature over time (i–iii). (D,E) Confocal micrographs of phalloidin-stained mid-body myocytes from crawling and swimming animals, respectively. Actin filaments delineate sarcomeres used for morphometry. (F) Schematic diagram of C. elegans body-wall musculature styled after Gieseler et al. (2017). (G) Typical sarcomere arrangement in mammalian striated muscle compared with analogous structures in C. elegans (H).

Adina Fazyl, @andres-vidal-gadea.bsky.social & co show that swimming C. elegans develop shorter, denser #sarcomeres and elongated muscles compared to crawlers, revealing activity-dependent muscle remodelling. 🪱https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.062371

#MusclePlasticity #Locomotion #Mechanotransduction