A cross-modality enhancement of defensive flight via parvalbumin neurons in zona incerta

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Abstract

The ability to adjust defensive behavior is critical for animal survival in dynamic environments. However, neural circuits underlying the modulation of innate defensive behavior remain not well-understood. In particular, environmental threats are commonly associated with cues of multiple sensory modalities. It remains to be investigated how these modalities interact to shape defense behavior. In this study, we report that auditory-induced defensive flight can be facilitated by somatosensory input in mice. This cross-modality modulation of defensive behavior is mediated by the projection from the primary somatosensory cortex (SSp) to the ventral sector of zona incerta (ZIv). Parvalbumin-positive neurons in ZIv, receiving direct input from SSp, mediate the enhancement of the flight behavior via their projections to the medial posterior complex of thalamus (POm). Thus, defensive flight behavior can be enhanced in a somatosensory context-dependent manner via recruiting PV neurons in ZIv, which may be important for increasing survival of prey animals.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. The data for each figure have been provided as source data files and the code used for data analysis can be found at https://github.com/xiaolinchou/flight-speed-calculation.

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Xiyue Wang

Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-5805-0778
Xiaolin Chou

Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Bo Peng

Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Li Shen

Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Junxiang J Huang

Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Li I Zhang

Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Huizhong W Tao

Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

For correspondence
htao@usc.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3660-0513

Funding

National Institutes of Health (EY019049)

Huizhong W Tao

Karl Kirchgessner Foundation

Huizhong W Tao

National Institutes of Health (EY022478)

Huizhong W Tao

National Institutes of Health (R01DC008983)

Li I Zhang

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All experimental procedures used in this study were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Southern California under the protocol 20719.

Copyright

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.