Male Caenorhabditis elegans optimizes avoidance behavior against acute and chronic stress for successful mating with hermaphrodites

The optimization of avoidance behaviors in response to stress is an instinctual life function universally present in animals. In many sexually dimorphic animals, males exhibit higher stress resistance than females, but there have been no reports of comparative studies on stress resistance in sexually dimorphic hermaphrodites capable of reproducing alone. In the present study, we aimed to utilize a reversal/turn behavioral choice to conduct a comparative analysis of optimized avoidance behavior patterns in hermaphrodite and male Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that C. elegans males showed greater resistance to physical movement under acute stress and to lifespan reduction under chronic stress than C. elegans hermaphrodites. Interestingly, males exhibited a stronger avoidance behavior pattern known as "turn" than did the hermaphrodites, even in response to mild acute stress stimuli, to which they responded as if they had been exposed to strong stimuli. Stress conditions can lead to unsuccessful mating in C. elegans, and exaggerated stress avoidance in males may have biological significance for successful mating. This sexual dimorphism in avoidance behavior optimization was attributed to neural circuits downstream of the AIB neurons, the center of turn behavior, suggesting the presence of a novel mechanism distinct from previously reported neural and molecular mechanisms of avoidance behavior optimization.