Mapping neurons and brain regions underlying sensorimotor decisions and sequences in Drosophila

Nervous systems across the animal kingdom have the ability to select appropriate actions and sequences of actions in response to sensory cues. The circuit mechanisms by which nervous systems achieve choice, stability and transitions between behaviors are still incompletely understood. To identify ne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inbioRxiv
Main Authors Jovanic, Tihana, Masson, Jean-Baptiste, Truman, James W, Zlatic, Marta
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published Cold Spring Harbor Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 15.12.2017
Subjects
Brain mapping
Information processing
Insects
Larvae
Nervous system
Phenotypes
Sensorimotor system
Sensory integration
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Summary:Nervous systems across the animal kingdom have the ability to select appropriate actions and sequences of actions in response to sensory cues. The circuit mechanisms by which nervous systems achieve choice, stability and transitions between behaviors are still incompletely understood. To identify neurons and brain areas involved in controlling these processes, we developed an approach where we combined a large-scale neuronal inactivation screen with an automated action detection of sensorimotor decisions and sequences in response to a sensory cue in Drosophila larva. We analyzed behaviors from 2.9x105 larvae and identified 51 candidate lines for sensory processing and 24 candidate lines for competitive interactions between actions during sensorimotor decisions. We also detected phenotype categories for sequence transitions consistent with a model of sequence generation where transitions and reversals are independently controlled. These findings provide the basis for understanding how sensorimotor decisions and sequence transition are controlled by the nervous system.
DOI:10.1101/215236