Angular velocity integration in a fly heading circuit.
Elife
; 62017 05 22.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28530551
ABSTRACT
Many animals maintain an internal representation of their heading as they move through their surroundings. Such a compass representation was recently discovered in a neural population in the Drosophila melanogaster central complex, a brain region implicated in spatial navigation. Here, we use two-photon calcium imaging and electrophysiology in head-fixed walking flies to identify a different neural population that conjunctively encodes heading and angular velocity, and is excited selectively by turns in either the clockwise or counterclockwise direction. We show how these mirror-symmetric turn responses combine with the neurons' connectivity to the compass neurons to create an elegant mechanism for updating the fly's heading representation when the animal turns in darkness. This mechanism, which employs recurrent loops with an angular shift, bears a resemblance to those proposed in theoretical models for rodent head direction cells. Our results provide a striking example of structure matching function for a broadly relevant computation.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Encéfalo
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Drosophila melanogaster
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Orientação Espacial
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Elife
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos