Neural Circuits Underlying Multisensory Control of Orientation in Drosophila

项目总结！ 大脑如何结合来自不同模式的感觉刺激来指导行为目前尚不清楚 在单细胞水平上无法理解。在这里，我们建议使用模式生物果蝇 在两个物种fic的背景下探讨多感觉整合的神经回路基础 定向行为是在我们实验室培养出来的。在一种模式中，气味会改变 flies to a风(机械感应)提示：flie在没有气味和压力的情况下顺风而行 在有诱人气味的情况下迎风。在第二种模式中，一种令人厌恶的风 刺激和有吸引力的视觉刺激之和来指导拴系的flYingfly的方向。我们有 发现了一种新的机械传感路径，可以根据运动计算风向 并将这些信息传输到中央复合体，即fly的一个区域 与导航有关的大脑。结合文献中的信息和初步的 来自我们自己的实验室的数据，这表明了一个模型，如何不同的感觉流可能是ff 在中央建筑群内对齐并整合。我们建议使用光遗传激活， 化学发生沉默，全细胞电生理学，和功能成像，以测试 定向多感觉控制的候选中枢复合体神经元。我们还会另外 检验另一种假设，即下行神经元需要多感觉整合 对于这两种行为。这项研究将提供一个全面的细胞水平的描述如何 感官流结合在一起来控制模型生物体的方向。

Project Summary! How the brain combines sensory stimuli from different modalities to guide behavior is currently not understood at a single-cell level. Here we propose to use the model organism Drosophila to investigate the neural circuit basis of multi-sensory integration in the context of two specific orientation behaviors developed in our lab. In one paradigm, odor switches the orientation of walking flies to a wind (mechanosensory) cue: flies orient downwind in the absence of odor and upwind in the presence of an attractive odor. In the second paradigm, an aversive wind stimulus and attractive visual stimulus sum to guide orientation of a tethered flying fly. We have discovered a novel mechanosensory pathway that computes wind direction from movements of the fly's antennae, and transmits this information to the central complex, a region of the brain implicated in navigation. Combined with information from the literature and preliminary data from our own lab, this suggests a model for how different sensory streams might be aligned and integrated within the central complex. We propose to use optogenetic activation, chemogenetic silencing, whole-cell electrophysiology, and functional imaging to test the role of candidate central complex neurons in multi-sensory control of orientation. We will additionally test the alternative hypothesis that multi-sensory integration in descending neurons is required for the two behaviors. This study will provide a comprehensive cellular-level account of how sensory streams are combined to control the orientation of a model organism.!