TY - JOUR TI - Quantification of gait parameters in freely walking wild type and sensory deprived Drosophila melanogaster AU - Mendes, César S AU - Bartos, Imre AU - Akay, Turgay AU - Márka, Szabolcs AU - Mann, Richard S A2 - Calabrese, Ron VL - 2 PY - 2013 DA - 2013/01/08 SP - e00231 C1 - eLife 2013;2:e00231 DO - 10.7554/eLife.00231 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00231 AB - Coordinated walking in vertebrates and multi-legged invertebrates such as Drosophila melanogaster requires a complex neural network coupled to sensory feedback. An understanding of this network will benefit from systems such as Drosophila that have the ability to genetically manipulate neural activities. However, the fly's small size makes it challenging to analyze walking in this system. In order to overcome this limitation, we developed an optical method coupled with high-speed imaging that allows the tracking and quantification of gait parameters in freely walking flies with high temporal and spatial resolution. Using this method, we present a comprehensive description of many locomotion parameters, such as gait, tarsal positioning, and intersegmental and left-right coordination for wild type fruit flies. Surprisingly, we find that inactivation of sensory neurons in the fly's legs, to block proprioceptive feedback, led to deficient step precision, but interleg coordination and the ability to execute a tripod gait were unaffected. KW - walking behavior KW - coordination KW - proprioception KW - sensory feedback KW - gait analysis KW - motor neuron JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -