TY - JOUR

T1 - Central processing of leg proprioception in Drosophila

AU - Agrawal, Sweta

AU - Seattle, University of

AU - Sustar, Ann

AU - Gurung, Pralaksha

AU - Shepherd, David

AU - Truman, James

AU - Tuthill, John

N1 - Publication history Received: June 22, 2020 Accepted: December 1, 2020 Accepted Manuscript published: December 2, 2020 (version 1) Version of Record published: December 21, 2020 (version 2) Funding for David Shepherd : Howard Hughes Medical Institute

PY - 2020/12/21

Y1 - 2020/12/21

N2 - Proprioception, the sense of self-movement and position, is mediated by mechanosensory neurons that detect diverse features of body kinematics. Although proprioceptive feedback is crucial for accurate motor control, little is known about how downstream circuits transform limb sensory information to guide motor output. Here we investigate neural circuits in Drosophila that process proprioceptive information from the fly leg. We identify three cell types from distinct developmental lineages that are positioned to receive input from proprioceptor subtypes encoding tibia position, movement, and vibration. 13Bα neurons encode femur-tibia joint angle and mediate postural changes in tibia position. 9Aα neurons also drive changes in leg posture, but encode a combination of directional movement, high frequency vibration, and joint angle. Activating 10Bα neurons, which encode tibia vibration at specific joint angles, elicits pausing in walking flies. Altogether, our results reveal that central circuits integrate information across proprioceptor subtypes to construct complex sensorimotor representations that mediate diverse behaviors, including reflexive control of limb posture and detection of leg vibration.

AB - Proprioception, the sense of self-movement and position, is mediated by mechanosensory neurons that detect diverse features of body kinematics. Although proprioceptive feedback is crucial for accurate motor control, little is known about how downstream circuits transform limb sensory information to guide motor output. Here we investigate neural circuits in Drosophila that process proprioceptive information from the fly leg. We identify three cell types from distinct developmental lineages that are positioned to receive input from proprioceptor subtypes encoding tibia position, movement, and vibration. 13Bα neurons encode femur-tibia joint angle and mediate postural changes in tibia position. 9Aα neurons also drive changes in leg posture, but encode a combination of directional movement, high frequency vibration, and joint angle. Activating 10Bα neurons, which encode tibia vibration at specific joint angles, elicits pausing in walking flies. Altogether, our results reveal that central circuits integrate information across proprioceptor subtypes to construct complex sensorimotor representations that mediate diverse behaviors, including reflexive control of limb posture and detection of leg vibration.

U2 - 10.7554/eLife.60299

DO - 10.7554/eLife.60299

M3 - Article

C2 - 33263281

VL - 9

JO - Elife

JF - Elife

SN - 2050-084X

M1 - 60299

ER -