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Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis
The ability to respond to chemical stimuli is fundamental to the survival of motile organisms, but the strategies underlying odour tracking remain poorly understood. Here we show that chemotaxis in Drosophila melanogaster larvae is an active sampling process analogous to sniffing in vertebrates. Com...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Pub. Group
2011
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3265367/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21863008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1455 |
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author | Gomez-Marin, Alex Stephens, Greg J. Louis, Matthieu |
author_facet | Gomez-Marin, Alex Stephens, Greg J. Louis, Matthieu |
author_sort | Gomez-Marin, Alex |
collection | PubMed |
description | The ability to respond to chemical stimuli is fundamental to the survival of motile organisms, but the strategies underlying odour tracking remain poorly understood. Here we show that chemotaxis in Drosophila melanogaster larvae is an active sampling process analogous to sniffing in vertebrates. Combining computer-vision algorithms with reconstructed olfactory environments, we establish that larvae orient in odour gradients through a sequential organization of stereotypical behaviours, including runs, stops, lateral head casts and directed turns. Negative gradients, integrated during runs, control the timing of turns. Positive gradients detected through high-amplitude head casts determine the direction of individual turns. By genetically manipulating the peripheral olfactory circuit, we examine how orientation adapts to losses and gains of function in olfactory input. Our findings suggest that larval chemotaxis represents an intermediate navigation strategy between the biased random walks of Escherichia Coli and the stereo-olfaction observed in rats and humans. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3265367 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2011 |
publisher | Nature Pub. Group |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-32653672012-01-24 Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis Gomez-Marin, Alex Stephens, Greg J. Louis, Matthieu Nat Commun Article The ability to respond to chemical stimuli is fundamental to the survival of motile organisms, but the strategies underlying odour tracking remain poorly understood. Here we show that chemotaxis in Drosophila melanogaster larvae is an active sampling process analogous to sniffing in vertebrates. Combining computer-vision algorithms with reconstructed olfactory environments, we establish that larvae orient in odour gradients through a sequential organization of stereotypical behaviours, including runs, stops, lateral head casts and directed turns. Negative gradients, integrated during runs, control the timing of turns. Positive gradients detected through high-amplitude head casts determine the direction of individual turns. By genetically manipulating the peripheral olfactory circuit, we examine how orientation adapts to losses and gains of function in olfactory input. Our findings suggest that larval chemotaxis represents an intermediate navigation strategy between the biased random walks of Escherichia Coli and the stereo-olfaction observed in rats and humans. Nature Pub. Group 2011-08-23 /pmc/articles/PMC3265367/ /pubmed/21863008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1455 Text en Copyright © 2011, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
spellingShingle | Article Gomez-Marin, Alex Stephens, Greg J. Louis, Matthieu Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis |
title | Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis |
title_full | Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis |
title_fullStr | Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis |
title_full_unstemmed | Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis |
title_short | Active sampling and decision making in Drosophila chemotaxis |
title_sort | active sampling and decision making in drosophila chemotaxis |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3265367/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21863008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1455 |
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