ERIC Number: EJ1048862
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jan
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1072-0502
EISSN: N/A
A Conditioned Visual Orientation Requires the Ellipsoid Body in "Drosophila"
Guo, Chao; Du, Yifei; Yuan, Deliang; Li, Meixia; Gong, Haiyun; Gong, Zhefeng; Liu, Li
Learning & Memory, v22 n1 p56-63 Jan 2015
Orientation, the spatial organization of animal behavior, is an essential faculty of animals. Bacteria and lower animals such as insects exhibit taxis, innate orientation behavior, directly toward or away from a directional cue. Organisms can also orient themselves at a specific angle relative to the cues. In this study, using "Drosophila" as a model system, we established a visual orientation conditioning paradigm based on a flight simulator in which a stationary flying fly could control the rotation of a visual object. By coupling aversive heat shocks to a fly's orientation toward one side of the visual object, we found that the fly could be conditioned to orientate toward the left or right side of the frontal visual object and retain this conditioned visual orientation. The lower and upper visual fields have different roles in conditioned visual orientation. Transfer experiments showed that conditioned visual orientation could generalize between visual targets of different sizes, compactness, or vertical positions, but not of contour orientation. Rut--Type I adenylyl cyclase and Dnc--phosphodiesterase were dispensable for visual orientation conditioning. Normal activity and "scb" signaling in R3/R4d neurons of the ellipsoid body were required for visual orientation conditioning. Our studies established a visual orientation conditioning paradigm and examined the behavioral properties and neural circuitry of visual orientation, an important component of the insect's spatial navigation.
Descriptors: Conditioning, Entomology, Cues, Visual Perception, Spatial Ability, Visual Stimuli, Navigation, Learning Processes
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury, NY 11797-2924. Tel: 800-843-4388; Tel: 516-367-8800; Fax: 516-422-4097; e-mail: cshpres@cshl.edu; Web site: http://www.learnmem.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A