The functional organization of male-specific visual neurons in flies.
Intracellular recording and Lucifer yellow dye filling of male fleshflies, Sarcophaga bullata, have revealed male-specific neurons in the lobula, the axons of which project to the origin of premotor channels supplying flight motor neurons. Dendrites of male-specific neurons visit areas of the retinotopic mosaic supplied by the retina's acute zone, which is used by males to keep the image of a conspecific female centered during aerial pursuit. Only males engage in high-speed aerobatic chases, and male-specific neurons are suspected to underlie this behavior. Physiological determination of receptive fields of male-specific neurons substantiates the fields predicted from anatomical studies and demonstrates that they subtend the acute zone. Male-specific neurons respond in a manner predicted on theoretical grounds from observations of tracking behavior. Such properties include directional selectivity to visual motion and higher sensitivity to motion of small images than to wide-field motion. The present account substantiates and extends neuroanatomical evidence that predicts that male-specific lobula neurons comprise a distinct circuit mediating conspecific tracking.
Gilbert
C
C
Arizona Research Laboratories, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.
Strausfeld
N J
NJ
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D003035:Cobalt; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology; D004175:Diptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D004566:Electrodes; D004594:Electrophysiology; D007546:Isoquinolines; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013045:Species Specificity; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*
D007546:Isoquinolines; D003035:Cobalt; C017475:lucifer yellow