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Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies

The mechanics of Dipteran thorax is dictated by a network of exoskeletal linkages that, when deformed by the flight muscles, generate coordinated wing movements. In Diptera, the forewings power flight, whereas the hindwings have evolved into specialized structures called halteres, which provide rapi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Deora, Tanvi, Sane, Siddharth S, Sane, Sanjay P
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8629423/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34783648
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.53824
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author Deora, Tanvi
Sane, Siddharth S
Sane, Sanjay P
author_facet Deora, Tanvi
Sane, Siddharth S
Sane, Sanjay P
author_sort Deora, Tanvi
collection PubMed
description The mechanics of Dipteran thorax is dictated by a network of exoskeletal linkages that, when deformed by the flight muscles, generate coordinated wing movements. In Diptera, the forewings power flight, whereas the hindwings have evolved into specialized structures called halteres, which provide rapid mechanosensory feedback for flight stabilization. Although actuated by independent muscles, wing and haltere motion is precisely phase-coordinated at high frequencies. Because wingbeat frequency is a product of wing-thorax resonance, any wear-and-tear of wings or thorax should impair flight ability. How robust is the Dipteran flight system against such perturbations? Here, we show that wings and halteres are independently driven, coupled oscillators. We systematically reduced the wing length in flies and observed how wing-haltere synchronization was affected. The wing-wing system is a strongly coupled oscillator, whereas the wing-haltere system is weakly coupled through mechanical linkages that synchronize phase and frequency. Wing-haltere link acts in a unidirectional manner; altering wingbeat frequency affects haltere frequency, but not vice versa. Exoskeletal linkages are thus key morphological features of the Dipteran thorax that ensure wing-haltere synchrony, despite severe wing damage.
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spelling pubmed-86294232021-12-01 Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies Deora, Tanvi Sane, Siddharth S Sane, Sanjay P eLife Evolutionary Biology The mechanics of Dipteran thorax is dictated by a network of exoskeletal linkages that, when deformed by the flight muscles, generate coordinated wing movements. In Diptera, the forewings power flight, whereas the hindwings have evolved into specialized structures called halteres, which provide rapid mechanosensory feedback for flight stabilization. Although actuated by independent muscles, wing and haltere motion is precisely phase-coordinated at high frequencies. Because wingbeat frequency is a product of wing-thorax resonance, any wear-and-tear of wings or thorax should impair flight ability. How robust is the Dipteran flight system against such perturbations? Here, we show that wings and halteres are independently driven, coupled oscillators. We systematically reduced the wing length in flies and observed how wing-haltere synchronization was affected. The wing-wing system is a strongly coupled oscillator, whereas the wing-haltere system is weakly coupled through mechanical linkages that synchronize phase and frequency. Wing-haltere link acts in a unidirectional manner; altering wingbeat frequency affects haltere frequency, but not vice versa. Exoskeletal linkages are thus key morphological features of the Dipteran thorax that ensure wing-haltere synchrony, despite severe wing damage. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2021-11-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8629423/ /pubmed/34783648 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.53824 Text en © 2021, Deora et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Evolutionary Biology
Deora, Tanvi
Sane, Siddharth S
Sane, Sanjay P
Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies
title Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies
title_full Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies
title_fullStr Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies
title_full_unstemmed Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies
title_short Wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies
title_sort wings and halteres act as coupled dual oscillators in flies
topic Evolutionary Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8629423/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34783648
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.53824
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