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Sun navigation requires compass neurons in Drosophila

View ORCID ProfileYsabel Milton Giraldo, Katherine J. Leitch, Ivo K. Ros, Timothy L. Warren, Peter T. Weir, View ORCID ProfileMichael H. Dickinson
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/315176
Ysabel Milton Giraldo
1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
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Katherine J. Leitch
1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
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Ivo K. Ros
1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
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Timothy L. Warren
1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
2Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401 USA
3Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA
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Peter T. Weir
4Data Science, Yelp, San Francisco, CA 94105
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Michael H. Dickinson
1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
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Abstract

To follow a straight course, animals must maintain a constant heading relative to a fixed, distant landmark, a strategy termed menotaxis. In experiments using a flight simulator, we found that Drosophila adopt arbitrary headings with respect to a simulated sun, and individuals remember their heading preference between successive flights—even over gaps lasting several hours. Imaging experiments revealed that a class of neurons within the central complex, which have been previously shown to act as an internal compass, track the azimuthal motion of a sun stimulus. When these neurons are silenced, flies no longer adopt and maintain arbitrary headings, but instead exhibit frontal phototaxis. Thus, without the compass system, flies lose the ability to execute menotaxis and revert to a simpler, reflexive behavior.

One sentence summary Silencing the compass neurons in the central complex of Drosophila eliminates sun navigation but leaves phototaxis intact.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted May 07, 2018.
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Sun navigation requires compass neurons in Drosophila
Ysabel Milton Giraldo, Katherine J. Leitch, Ivo K. Ros, Timothy L. Warren, Peter T. Weir, Michael H. Dickinson
bioRxiv 315176; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/315176
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Sun navigation requires compass neurons in Drosophila
Ysabel Milton Giraldo, Katherine J. Leitch, Ivo K. Ros, Timothy L. Warren, Peter T. Weir, Michael H. Dickinson
bioRxiv 315176; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/315176

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