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Dual receptive fields underlying target and wide-field motion sensitivity in looming sensitive descending neurons

View ORCID ProfileSarah Nicholas, View ORCID ProfileYuri Ogawa, View ORCID ProfileKarin Nordström
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.19.512946
Sarah Nicholas
1Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia
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Yuri Ogawa
1Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia
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Karin Nordström
1Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia
2Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden
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  • For correspondence: karin.nordstrom@flinders.edu.au
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Abstract

Responding rapidly to visual stimuli is fundamental for many animals. For example, predatory birds and insects alike have amazing target detection abilities, with incredibly short neural and behavioral delays, enabling efficient prey capture. Similarly, looming objects need to be rapidly avoided to ensure immediate survival, as these could represent approaching predators. Male Eristalis tenax hoverflies are non-predatory, highly territorial insects, that perform high-speed pursuits of conspecifics and other territorial intruders. During the initial stages of the pursuit the retinal projection of the target is very small, but grows to a larger object before physical interaction. Supporting such behaviors, E. tenax and other insects have both target-tuned and loom-sensitive neurons in the optic lobes and the descending pathways. We here show that these visual stimuli are not necessarily encoded in parallel. Indeed, we describe a class of descending neurons that respond to small targets, to looming and to widefield stimuli. We show that these neurons have two distinct receptive fields where the dorsal receptive field is sensitive to the motion of small targets and the ventral receptive field responds to larger objects or widefield stimuli. Our data suggest that the two receptive fields have different pre-synaptic input, where the inputs are not linearly summed. This novel and unique arrangement could support different behaviors, including obstacle avoidance, flower landing, target pursuit or capture.

Significance Statement If you are playing baseball, when the ball is far away, it appears as a very small object on your retina. However, as the ball gets closer, its image becomes a rapidly expanding object. Here, we show that within the hoverfly visual system, a single neuron could respond to both of these images. Indeed, we found a class of descending neurons with dual sensitivity, separated into two distinct parts of the visual field. The neurons have a more dorsal receptive field that is sensitive to small targets and a more ventral receptive field that is sensitive to larger objects.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • Conflict of interest statement The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This is a revised version for submission to a different journal

  • https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6wwpzgn2p

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 March 17, 2023.
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Dual receptive fields underlying target and wide-field motion sensitivity in looming sensitive descending neurons
Sarah Nicholas, Yuri Ogawa, Karin Nordström
bioRxiv 2022.10.19.512946; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.19.512946
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Dual receptive fields underlying target and wide-field motion sensitivity in looming sensitive descending neurons
Sarah Nicholas, Yuri Ogawa, Karin Nordström
bioRxiv 2022.10.19.512946; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.19.512946

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