Author(s)

Jenny Magnes¹, Cheris Congo¹, Miranda Hulsey-Vincent¹, Harold Hastings², Kathleen M. Raley-Susman¹

¹Departments of Physics and Astronomy, and Biology, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA.
²Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing, Bard College at Simons Rock, Great Barrington, MA, USA.

Using coherent light, we analyze the temporal diffraction at a single point from real-time living C. elegans locomotion in three-dimensional space. We describe the frequency spectrum of single swimming nematodes in an optical cuvette at a single sampling point in the far-field diffraction pattern. An analytical expression of the double slit is used to model the frequency spectra of nematodes as oscillating segments. The frequency spectrum in the diffraction pattern expands discretely and linearly as a multiple of the fundamental frequency with increasing distance from the central maximum. The frequency spectrum of a worm at a single point in the frequency spectrum contains all the frequencies involved in the locomotion and is used to characterize and compare nematodes. The occurrence of resonant frequencies in the dynamic diffraction pattern increases with the distance from the central maximum. The regular spacing of the resonant frequencies is used to identify characteristic swimming frequencies.

C. elegans, Nematode, Temporal Diffraction, Live Diffraction, Locomotion

Magnes, J. , Congo, C. , Hulsey-Vincent, M. , Hastings, H. and Raley-Susman, K. (2018) Live C. elegans Diffraction at a Single Point. Open Journal of Biophysics, 8, 155-162. doi: 10.4236/ojbiphy.2018.83011.