Small eyes in dim light: Implications to spatio-temporal visual abilities in Drosophila melanogaster
Small eyes in dim light: Implications to spatio-temporal visual abilities in Drosophila melanogaster
复制标题
昏暗光线下的小眼睛：对黑腹果蝇时空视觉能力的影响
DOI：
10.1016/j.visres.2020.02.007
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发表时间：
2020
期刊：
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
Theobald, Jamie C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Palavalli-Nettimi, Ravindra;Theobald, Jamie C.
果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）在野外的各种光强度下都很活跃，但实验室饲养的果蝇通常只在强光下进行测试。同样，在幼虫阶段缺乏喂养（在自然界中很常见）会产生较小的成虫，并且眼睛尺寸范围广泛，这是在喂养良好的实验室群体中找不到的。较暗的光线和较小的眼睛都会限制光线捕捉，并对飞行等视觉行为产生不确定的影响。在本研究中，我们使用移动正弦光栅来测试不同光强度下不同眼睛大小的雌性果蝇的空间敏锐度、时间敏锐度和对比度阈值。我们还研究了较小且经常被忽视的雄性果蝇的视力。随着光强度从 50.1 lx 降至 0.3 lx，果蝇的空间敏锐度降低（雌性：每度 0.1 至 0.06 个周期，CPD，雄性：0.1 至 0.04 CPD）和时间敏锐度（雌性：50 Hz 至 10 Hz，雄性：25 Hz 至 10 Hz），对比度检测阈值增加（女性：10%至29%，男性：19%至48%）。在考虑眼睛大小后，我们发现没有重大的性别差异。与 50.1 lx 相比，小型果蝇（眼睛面积为 0.1–0.17 mm2）和大型果蝇（0.17–0.23 mm2）的视觉能力在 0.3 lx 时受到影响，但小型果蝇受到的影响更大（空间敏锐度：0.03 与 0.06 CPD，对比度阈值：76% 与 57%，时间敏锐度：5 Hz 与10赫兹）。我们的结果表明，在弱光条件下，小果蝇的视觉能力比大果蝇受到的影响更大，这可能导致对觅食、导航和飞行的大小和光强度依赖性影响。
Fruit flies,Drosophila melanogaster, are active over a range of light intensities in the wild, but lab-reared flies are often tested only in bright light. Similarly, scarce feeding during larval stages—common in nature—generates smaller adults, and a wide range of eye sizes not found in well-fed lab colonies. Both dimmer light and smaller eyes limit light capture and have undetermined effects on visual behaviors such as flight. In this study, we used moving sinusoidal gratings to test spatial acuity, temporal acuity, and contrast threshold of female flies of varying eye sizes at different light intensities. We also investigated vision in the smaller and often neglected male fruit flies. As light intensity drops from 50.1 lx to 0.3 lx, flies have a reduced spatial acuity (females: from 0.1 to 0.06 cycles per degree, CPD, males: 0.1 to 0.04 CPD) and temporal acuity (females: from 50 Hz to 10 Hz, males: 25 Hz to 10 Hz), and an increased contrast detection threshold (females: from 10% to 29%, males: 19% to 48%). We find no major sex-specific differences after accounting for eye size. Visual abilities in both small (eye area of 0.1–0.17 mm2) and large flies (0.17–0.23 mm2) suffer at 0.3 lx compared to 50.1 lx, but small flies suffer more (spatial acuity: 0.03 vs 0.06 CPD, contrast threshold: 76% vs 57%, temporal acuity: 5 Hz vs 10 Hz). Our results suggest visual abilities of small flies suffer more than large flies at low light levels, possibly leading to size- and light intensity-dependent effects on foraging, navigation, and flight.