1. Neuroscience

A neural command circuit for grooming movement control

  1. Stefanie Hampel
  2. Romain Franconville
  3. Julie H Simpson
  4. Andrew M Seeds  Is a corresponding author
  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08758
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  1. Stefanie Hampel
  2. Romain Franconville
  3. Julie H Simpson
  4. Andrew M Seeds
(2015)
A neural command circuit for grooming movement control
eLife 4:e08758.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08758
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Abstract

Animals perform many stereotyped movements, but how nervous systems are organized for controlling specific movements remains unclear. Here we use anatomical, optogenetic, behavioral, and physiological techniques to identify a circuit in Drosophila melanogaster that can elicit stereotyped leg movements that groom the antennae. Mechanosensory chordotonal neurons detect displacements of the antennae and excite three different classes of functionally connected interneurons, which include two classes of brain interneurons and different parallel descending neurons. This multilayered circuit is organized such that neurons within each layer are sufficient to specifically elicit antennal grooming. However, we find differences in the durations of antennal grooming elicited by neurons in the different layers, suggesting that the circuit is organized to both command antennal grooming and control its duration. As similar features underlie stimulus-induced movements in other animals, we infer the possibility of a common circuit organization for movement control that can be dissected in Drosophila.

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Author details

  1. Stefanie Hampel

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Romain Franconville

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Julie H Simpson

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Andrew M Seeds

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    For correspondence
    seeds.andrew@gmail.com
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Copyright

© 2015, Hampel 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.

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  1. Stefanie Hampel
  2. Romain Franconville
  3. Julie H Simpson
  4. Andrew M Seeds
(2015)
A neural command circuit for grooming movement control
eLife 4:e08758.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08758

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08758

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Further reading

    1. Neuroscience

    Distinct subpopulations of mechanosensory chordotonal organ neurons elicit grooming of the fruit fly antennae

    Stefanie Hampel, Katharina Eichler ... Andrew M Seeds
    Research Advance Updated

    Diverse mechanosensory neurons detect different mechanical forces that can impact animal behavior. Yet our understanding of the anatomical and physiological diversity of these neurons and the behaviors that they influence is limited. We previously discovered that grooming of the Drosophila melanogaster antennae is elicited by an antennal mechanosensory chordotonal organ, the Johnston’s organ (JO) (Hampel et al., 2015). Here, we describe anatomically and physiologically distinct JO mechanosensory neuron subpopulations that each elicit antennal grooming. We show that the subpopulations project to different, discrete zones in the brain and differ in their responses to mechanical stimulation of the antennae. Although activation of each subpopulation elicits antennal grooming, distinct subpopulations also elicit the additional behaviors of wing flapping or backward locomotion. Our results provide a comprehensive description of the diversity of mechanosensory neurons in the JO, and reveal that distinct JO subpopulations can elicit both common and distinct behavioral responses.