title: A screen for constituents of motor control and decision making in Drosophila reveals visual distance-estimation neurons.
abstract: Climbing over chasms larger than step size is vital to fruit flies, since foraging and mating are achieved while walking. Flies avoid futile climbing attempts by processing parallax-motion vision to estimate gap width. To identify neuronal substrates of climbing control, we screened a large collection of fly lines with temporarily inactivated neuronal populations in a novel high-throughput assay described here. The observed climbing phenotypes were classified; lines in each group are reported. Selected lines were further analysed by high-resolution video cinematography. One striking class of flies attempts to climb chasms of unsurmountable width; expression analysis guided us to C2 optic-lobe interneurons. Inactivation of C2 or the closely related C3 neurons with highly specific intersectional driver lines consistently reproduced hyperactive climbing whereas strong or weak artificial depolarization of C2/C3 neurons strongly or mildly decreased climbing frequency. Contrast-manipulation experiments support our conclusion that C2/C3 neurons are part of the distance-evaluation system.
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.
authors.forename: Tilman
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Triphan
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.
authors.forename: Aljoscha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nern
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.
authors.forename: Sonia F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.
authors.forename: Wyatt
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Korff
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel Q
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Naiman
authors.affiliation: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Institut für Zoologie III, Col.-Kleinmann-Weg 2, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Strauss
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003657:Decision Making; D004215:Distance Perception; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D000068156:Formative Feedback; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009899:Optic Lobe, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D016138:Walking