RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Sun navigation requires compass neurons in <em>Drosophila</em>
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 315176
DO 10.1101/315176
A1 Ysabel Milton Giraldo
A1 Katherine J. Leitch
A1 Ivo K. Ros
A1 Timothy L. Warren
A1 Peter T. Weir
A1 Michael H. Dickinson
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/07/315176.abstract
AB 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.