Animal movement is controlled by motor neurons (MNs), which project out of the central nervous system to activate muscles. MN activity is coordinated by complex premotor networks that allow individual muscles to contribute to many different behaviors. Here, we use connectomics to analyze the wiring logic of premotor circuits controlling the leg and wing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo investigate circuit mechanisms underlying locomotor behavior, we used serial-section electron microscopy (EM) to acquire a synapse-resolution dataset containing the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of an adult female Drosophila melanogaster. To generate this dataset, we developed GridTape, a technology that combines automated serial-section collection with automated high-throughput transmission EM. Using this dataset, we studied neuronal networks that control leg and wing movements by reconstructing all 507 motor neurons that control the limbs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo move the body, the brain must precisely coordinate patterns of activity among diverse populations of motor neurons. Here, we use in vivo calcium imaging, electrophysiology, and behavior to understand how genetically-identified motor neurons control flexion of the fruit fly tibia. We find that leg motor neurons exhibit a coordinated gradient of anatomical, physiological, and functional properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStimulus- or context-dependent routing of neural signals through parallel pathways can permit flexible processing of diverse inputs. For example, work in mouse shows that rod photoreceptor signals are routed through several retinal pathways, each specialized for different light levels. This light-level-dependent routing of rod signals has been invoked to explain several human perceptual results, but it has not been tested in primate retina.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo better understand biophysical mechanisms of mechanosensory processing, we investigated two cell types in the Drosophila brain (A2 and B1 cells) that are postsynaptic to antennal vibration receptors. A2 cells receive excitatory synaptic currents in response to both directions of movement: thus, twice per vibration cycle. The membrane acts as a low-pass filter, so that voltage and spiking mainly track the vibration envelope rather than individual cycles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRod photoreceptors generate measurable responses to single-photon activation of individual molecules of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), rhodopsin. Timely rhodopsin desensitization depends on phosphorylation and arrestin binding, which quenches G protein activation. Rhodopsin phosphorylation has been measured biochemically at C-terminal serine residues, suggesting that these residues are critical for producing fast, low-noise responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVision in dim light, when photons are scarce, requires reliable signaling of the arrival of single photons. Rod photoreceptors accomplish this task through the use of a G-protein-coupled transduction cascade that amplifies the activity of single active rhodopsin molecules. This process is one of the best understood signaling cascades in biology, yet quantitative measurements of the amplitude and kinetics of the rod's response in mice vary by a factor of ∼ 2 across studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReliable signal transduction via G-protein-coupled receptors requires proper receptor inactivation. For example, signals originating from single rhodopsin molecules vary little from one to the next, requiring reproducible inactivation of rhodopsin by phosphorylation and arrestin binding. We determined how reduced concentrations of rhodopsin kinase (GRK1) and/or arrestin1 influenced the kinetics and variability of the single-photon responses of mouse rod photoreceptors.
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