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Proprioceptive feedback determines visuomotor gain in Drosophila

Jan Bartussek, Fritz-Olaf Lehmann
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/034371
Jan Bartussek
Department of Animal Physiology, University of Rostock Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany
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Fritz-Olaf Lehmann
Department of Animal Physiology, University of Rostock Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany
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  • For correspondence: fritz.lehmann@uni-rostock.de
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Abstract

Multisensory integration is a prerequisite for effective locomotor control in most animals. Especially the impressive aerial performance of insects relies on rapid and precise integration of multiple sensory modalities that provide feedback on different time scales. In flies, continuous visual signalling from the compound eyes is fused with phasic proprioceptive feedback to ensure precise neural activation of wing steering muscles within narrow temporal phase bands of the stroke cycle. This phase-locked activation relies on mechanoreceptors distributed over wings and gyroscopic halteres. Here we investigate visual steering performance of tethered flying fruit flies with reduced haltere and wing feedback signalling. Using a flight simulator, we evaluated visual object fixation behaviour, optomotor altitude control, and saccadic escape reflexes. The behavioural assays show an antagonistic effect of wing and haltere signalling on visuomotor gain during flight. Compared to controls, suppression of haltere feedback attenuates while suppression of wing feedback enhances the animal’s wing steering range. Our results suggest that the generation of motor commands owing to visual perception is dynamically controlled by proprioception. We outline a potential physiological mechanism based on the biomechanical properties of wing steering muscles and sensory integration processes at the level of motoneurons. Collectively, the findings contribute to our general understanding how moving animals integrate sensory information with dynamically changing temporal structure.

Abbreviations
C-flies
control flies
FWHM
full width at half maximum
HI-flies
haltere-immobilized flies
HSM
haltere steering muscles
PRWV
proximal radial wing vein
WBA
wingbeat amplitude
Δ WBA
difference between left and right wingbeat amplitude
Σ WBA
sum of left and right wingbeat amplitude
WBF
wingbeat frequency
WN-flies
wing nerve treated flies
WSM
wing steering muscles
Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted December 15, 2015.
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Proprioceptive feedback determines visuomotor gain in Drosophila
Jan Bartussek, Fritz-Olaf Lehmann
bioRxiv 034371; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/034371
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Proprioceptive feedback determines visuomotor gain in Drosophila
Jan Bartussek, Fritz-Olaf Lehmann
bioRxiv 034371; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/034371

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