A Primer on Quantitative Modeling

Caenorhabditis elegans is particularly suitable for obtaining quantitative data about behavior, neuronal activity, gene expression, ecological interactions, quantitative traits, and much more. To exploit the full potential of these data one seeks to interpret them within quantitative models. Using two examples from the C. elegans literature we briefly explore several types of modeling approaches relevant to worm biology, and show how they might be used to interpret data, formulate testable hypotheses, and suggest new experiments. We emphasize that the choice of modeling approach is strongly dependent on the questions of interest and the type of available knowledge.