Neural mechanisms underlying gait coordination and transitions

Elucidate the neural mechanisms that coordinate limb movements to produce multi-limbed gaits and facilitate transitions between gait patterns in Hypsibius exemplaris.

Background

Tardigrades exhibit arthropod-like inter-limb coordination despite having a compact nervous system. The paper notes that the neural basis of these gait dynamics remains unknown.

Identifying central pattern generators, sensory feedback pathways, and ganglia-brain interactions will clarify how coordinated locomotion emerges from modular circuits.