A visual pathway for skylight polarization processing in Drosophila

Abstract
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Abstract

Many insects use patterns of polarized light in the sky to orient and navigate. Here we functionally characterize neural circuitry in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, that conveys polarized light signals from the eye to the central complex, a brain region essential for the fly's sense of direction. Neurons tuned to the angle of polarization of ultraviolet light are found throughout the anterior visual pathway, connecting the optic lobes with the central complex via the anterior optic tubercle and bulb, in a homologous organization to the 'sky compass' pathways described in other insects. We detail how a consistent, map-like organization of neural tunings in the peripheral visual system is transformed into a reduced representation suited to flexible processing in the central brain. This study identifies computational motifs of the transformation, enabling mechanistic comparisons of multisensory integration and central processing for navigation in the brains of insects.

Data availability

The datasets and analysis code generated during this study are available at the Open Science Framework. doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/3tsd6

The following data sets were generated

1. Hardcastle BJ
(2020) Data and analysis code from: A visual pathway for skylight polarization processing in <i>Drosophila</i>
Open Science Framework, doi:10.17605/osf.io/3tsd6.

http://dx.doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/3tsd6

Article and author information

Author details

Ben J Hardcastle

Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

For correspondence
hardcastle@ucla.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4819-5631
Jaison J Omoto

Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Pratyush Kandimalla

Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Bao-Chau M Nguyen

Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Mehmet F Keleş

Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Natalie K Boyd

Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Volker Hartenstein

Department of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Mark A Frye

Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3277-3094

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R01-NS096290)

Volker Hartenstein

National Institutes of Health (R01-EY026031)

Mark A Frye

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

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.