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Algorithms underlying flexible phototaxis in larval zebrafish

View ORCID ProfileAlex B. Chen, Diptodip Deb, View ORCID ProfileArmin Bahl, Florian Engert
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.18.210260
Alex B. Chen
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
2Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States
3Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia, 20147, United States
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  • For correspondence: abchen@g.harvard.edu
Diptodip Deb
3Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia, 20147, United States
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Armin Bahl
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
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Florian Engert
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States
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SUMMARY

To thrive, organisms must maintain physiological and environmental variables in optimal ranges. However, in a dynamic world, the optimal range of a variable might fluctuate depending on the organism’s state or environmental conditions. Given these fluctuations, how do biological control systems maintain optimal control of physiological and environmental variables? We explored this question by studying the phototactic behavior of larval zebrafish. We demonstrate, with behavioral experiments and computational modeling, that larval zebrafish use phototaxis to maintain environmental luminance at a set point that depends on luminance history. We further show that fish compute this set point using information from both eyes, and that the set point fluctuates on a timescale of seconds when environmental luminance changes. These results expand on previous studies, where phototaxis was found to be primarily positive, and suggest that larval zebrafish, rather than consistently turning towards the brighter areas, exert homeostatic control over the luminance of their surroundings. Furthermore, we show that fluctuations in the surrounding luminance feed back on the system to drive allostatic changes to the luminance set point. Our work has uncovered a novel principle underlying phototaxis in larval zebrafish and characterized a behavioral algorithm by which larval zebrafish exert control over a sensory variable.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • ↵4 Lead Contact. Further information and requests for resources and reagents should be directed to and will be fulfilled by the Lead Contact, Alex B. Chen (abchen{at}g.harvard.edu).

  • https://github.com/diptodip/brightfish

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 July 19, 2020.
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Algorithms underlying flexible phototaxis in larval zebrafish
Alex B. Chen, Diptodip Deb, Armin Bahl, Florian Engert
bioRxiv 2020.07.18.210260; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.18.210260
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Algorithms underlying flexible phototaxis in larval zebrafish
Alex B. Chen, Diptodip Deb, Armin Bahl, Florian Engert
bioRxiv 2020.07.18.210260; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.18.210260

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