Navigational strategies underlying temporal phototaxis in Drosophila larvae

Navigating across light gradients is essential for survival for many animals. However, we still have a poor understanding of the algorithms that underlie such behaviors. Here we develop a novel closed-loop phototaxis assay for Drosophila larvae in which light intensity is always spatially uniform bu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of experimental biology Vol. 224; no. 11
Main Authors Zhu, Maxwell L, Herrera, Kristian J, Vogt, Katrin, Bahl, Armin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 01.06.2021
Subjects
Navigation
Phototaxis
Drosophila larvae
Animal behavior
Modeling
Posture tracking
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Summary:Navigating across light gradients is essential for survival for many animals. However, we still have a poor understanding of the algorithms that underlie such behaviors. Here we develop a novel closed-loop phototaxis assay for Drosophila larvae in which light intensity is always spatially uniform but updates depending on the location of the animal in the arena. Even though larvae can only rely on temporal cues during runs, we find that they are capable of finding preferred areas of low light intensity. Further detailed analysis of their behavior reveals that larvae turn more frequently and that heading angle changes increase when they experience brightness increments over extended periods of time. We suggest that temporal integration of brightness change during runs is an important - and so far largely unexplored - element of phototaxis.
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SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0022-0949
1477-9145
DOI:10.1242/JEB.242428