1. Neuroscience
Download icon

A dedicated visual pathway for prey detection in larval zebrafish

  1. Julia L Semmelhack
  2. Joseph C Donovan
  3. Tod R Thiele
  4. Enrico Kuehn
  5. Eva Laurell
  6. Herwig Baier  Is a corresponding author
  1. Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Germany
Research Article
  • Cited 79
  • Views 7,471
  • Annotations
Cite this article as: eLife 2014;3:e04878 doi: 10.7554/eLife.04878

Abstract

Zebrafish larvae show characteristic prey capture behavior in response to small moving objects. The neural mechanism used to recognize objects as prey remains largely unknown. We devised a machine learning behavior classification system to quantify hunting kinematics in semi-restrained animals exposed to a range of virtual stimuli. Two-photon calcium imaging revealed a small visual area, AF7, which was activated specifically by the optimal prey stimulus. This pretectal region is innervated by two types of retinal ganglion cells, which also send collaterals to the optic tectum. Laser ablation of AF7 markedly reduced prey capture behavior. We identified neurons with arbors in AF7 and found that they projected to multiple sensory and premotor areas: the optic tectum, the nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus (nMLF) and the hindbrain. These findings indicate that computations in the retina give rise to a visual stream which transforms sensory information into a directed prey capture response.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Julia L Semmelhack

    Department of Genes, Circuits and Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Joseph C Donovan

    Department of Genes, Circuits and Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Tod R Thiele

    Department of Genes, Circuits and Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Enrico Kuehn

    Department of Genes, Circuits and Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Eva Laurell

    Department of Genes, Circuits and Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Herwig Baier

    Department of Genes, Circuits and Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
    For correspondence
    hbaier@neuro.mpg.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal procedures conformed to the institutional guidelines of the Max Planck Society and the local government (Regierung von Oberbayern). The protocol (55.2-1-54-2532-101-12) was approved by the Regierung Oberbayern.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Ole Kiehn, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Publication history

  1. Received: September 23, 2014
  2. Accepted: December 8, 2014
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: December 9, 2014 (version 1)
  4. Accepted Manuscript updated: December 12, 2014 (version 2)
  5. Version of Record published: January 2, 2015 (version 3)

Copyright

© 2014, Semmelhack et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 7,471
    Page views
  • 1,210
    Downloads
  • 79
    Citations

Article citation count generated by polling the highest count across the following sources: Scopus, Crossref, PubMed Central.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Download citations (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Categories and tags

Research organism

Further reading

    1. Neuroscience
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Molecular basis for functional connectivity between the voltage sensor and the selectivity filter gate in Shaker K+ channels

    Carlos AZ Bassetto et al.
    Research Article Updated

    In Shaker K+ channels, the S4-S5 linker couples the voltage sensor (VSD) and pore domain (PD). Another coupling mechanism is revealed using two W434F-containing channels: L361R:W434F and L366H:W434F. In L361R:W434F, W434F affects the L361R VSD seen as a shallower charge-voltage (Q-V) curve that crosses the conductance-voltage (G-V) curve. In L366H:W434F, L366H relieves the W434F effect converting a non-conductive channel in a conductive one. We report a chain of residues connecting the VSD (S4) to the selectivity filter (SF) in the PD of an adjacent subunit as the molecular basis for voltage sensor selectivity filter gate (VS-SF) coupling. Single alanine substitutions in this region (L409A, S411A, S412A, or F433A) are enough to disrupt the VS-SF coupling, shown by the absence of Q-V and G-V crossing in L361R:W434F mutant and by the lack of ionic conduction in the L366H:W434F mutant. This residue chain defines a new coupling between the VSD and the PD in voltage-gated channels.

    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Neuroscience

    HAT cofactor TRRAP modulates microtubule dynamics via SP1 signaling to prevent neurodegeneration

    Alicia Tapias et al.
    Research Article Updated

    Brain homeostasis is regulated by the viability and functionality of neurons. HAT (histone acetyltransferase) and HDAC (histone deacetylase) inhibitors have been applied to treat neurological deficits in humans; yet, the epigenetic regulation in neurodegeneration remains elusive. Mutations of HAT cofactor TRRAP (ransformation/translation domain-associated protein) cause human neuropathies, including psychosis, intellectual disability, autism, and epilepsy, with unknown mechanism. Here we show that Trrap deletion in Purkinje neurons results in neurodegeneration of old mice. Integrated transcriptomics, epigenomics, and proteomics reveal that TRRAP via SP1 conducts a conserved transcriptomic program. TRRAP is required for SP1 binding at the promoter proximity of target genes, especially microtubule dynamics. The ectopic expression of Stathmin3/4 ameliorates defects of TRRAP-deficient neurons, indicating that the microtubule dynamics is particularly vulnerable to the action of SP1 activity. This study unravels a network linking three well-known, but up-to-date unconnected, signaling pathways, namely TRRAP, HAT, and SP1 with microtubule dynamics, in neuroprotection.

    1. Neuroscience

    Relationship between simultaneously recorded spiking activity and fluorescence signal in GCaMP6 transgenic mice

    Lawrence Huang et al.
    Tools and Resources

    Fluorescent calcium indicators are often used to investigate neural dynamics, but the relationship between fluorescence and action potentials (APs) remains unclear. Most APs can be detected when the soma almost fills the microscope's field of view, but calcium indicators are often used to image populations of neurons, necessitating a large field of view, generating fewer photons per neuron, and compromising AP detection. Here we characterized the AP-fluorescence transfer function in vivo for 48 layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in primary visual cortex, with simultaneous calcium imaging and cell-attached recordings from transgenic mice expressing GCaMP6s or GCaMP6f. While most APs were detected under optimal conditions, under conditions typical of population imaging studies only a minority of 1AP and 2AP events were detected (often <10% and ~20-30%, respectively), emphasizing the limits of AP detection under more realistic imaging conditions.