Note that the problem with understanding the behavior of C. Elegans is not understanding the neurons, it is understanding the connections that are outside of the neutrons. From a New York Times article ( https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/science/21brain.html ):
“Why is the wiring diagram produced by Dr. White so hard to interpret? She pulls down from her shelves a dog-eared copy of the journal in which the wiring was first described. The diagram shows the electrical connections that each of the 302 neurons makes to others in the system. These are the same kind of connections as those made by human neurons. But worms have another kind of connection.
Besides the synapses that mediate electrical signals, there are also so-called gap junctions that allow direct chemical communication between neurons. The wiring diagram for the gap junctions is quite different from that of the synapses.
Not only does the worm’s connectome, as Dr. Bargmann calls it, have two separate wiring diagrams superimposed on each other, but there is a third system that keeps rewiring the wiring diagrams. This is based on neuropeptides, hormonelike chemicals that are released by neurons to affect other neurons.”
Note that the problem with understanding the behavior of C. Elegans is not understanding the neurons, it is understanding the connections that are outside of the neutrons. From a New York Times article ( https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/science/21brain.html ):
“Why is the wiring diagram produced by Dr. White so hard to interpret? She pulls down from her shelves a dog-eared copy of the journal in which the wiring was first described. The diagram shows the electrical connections that each of the 302 neurons makes to others in the system. These are the same kind of connections as those made by human neurons. But worms have another kind of connection.
Besides the synapses that mediate electrical signals, there are also so-called gap junctions that allow direct chemical communication between neurons. The wiring diagram for the gap junctions is quite different from that of the synapses.
Not only does the worm’s connectome, as Dr. Bargmann calls it, have two separate wiring diagrams superimposed on each other, but there is a third system that keeps rewiring the wiring diagrams. This is based on neuropeptides, hormonelike chemicals that are released by neurons to affect other neurons.”
Humans are slowly making progress in understanding how C. Elegans works, see for example: Parallel Multimodal Circuits Control an Innate Foraging Behavior https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(19)30080-7