scholarly journals Dopamine in Drosophila : setting arousal thresholds in a miniature brain

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1707) ◽  
pp. 906-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Van Swinderen ◽  
Rozi Andretic
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Motor Control ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Adaptive Changes ◽  
Pharmacological Manipulations

In mammals, the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) modulates a variety of behaviours, although DA function is mostly associated with motor control and reward. In insects such as the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster , DA also modulates a wide array of behaviours, ranging from sleep and locomotion to courtship and learning. How can a single molecule play so many different roles? Adaptive changes within the DA system, anatomical specificity of action and effects on a variety of behaviours highlight the remarkable versatility of this neurotransmitter. Recent genetic and pharmacological manipulations of DA signalling in Drosophila have launched a surfeit of stories—each arguing for modulation of some aspect of the fly's waking (and sleeping) life. Although these stories often seem distinct and unrelated, there are some unifying themes underlying DA function and arousal states in this insect model. One of the central roles played by DA may involve perceptual suppression, a necessary component of both sleep and selective attention.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Influence of Motor Control on Selective Attention through a Stochastic Model: The Paradigm of Motor Control Dysfunction in Cerebellar Patient

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Veneri ◽  
Antonio Federico ◽  
Alessandra Rufa
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Stochastic Model ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Intrinsic Noise ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Energy Functions ◽  
New Approach

Attention allows us to selectively process the vast amount of information with which we are confronted, prioritizing some aspects of information and ignoring others by focusing on a certain location or aspect of the visual scene. Selective attention is guided by two cognitive mechanisms: saliency of the image (bottom up) and endogenous mechanisms (top down). These two mechanisms interact to direct attention and plan eye movements; then, the movement profile is sent to the motor system, which must constantly update the command needed to produce the desired eye movement. A new approach is described here to study how the eye motor control could influence this selection mechanism in clinical behavior: two groups of patients (SCA2 and late onset cerebellar ataxia LOCA) with well-known problems of motor control were studied; patients performed a cognitively demanding task; the results were compared to a stochastic model based on Monte Carlo simulations and a group of healthy subjects. The analytical procedure evaluated some energy functions for understanding the process. The implemented model suggested that patients performed an optimal visual search, reducing intrinsic noise sources. Our findings theorize a strict correlation between the “optimal motor system” and the “optimal stimulus encoders.”

A Reticulothalamic System Mediating Proprioceptive Attention and Tremor in Man

Neurosurgery ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Velasco ◽  
Marcos Velasco
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Motor Control ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Evoked Potentials ◽  
Motor Responses ◽  
Sensory Deficits ◽  
Multiunit Activity ◽  
Proprioceptive Stimulation ◽  
Complex Motor ◽  
Lemniscal System

Abstract This report describes the electrophysiological characteristics of thalamic and subthalamic targets used to control tremor. In these targets exploratory electrodes recorded one or more of the following events. Electrical stimulation produced enhancement of tremor or other complex motor responses. Somatic evoked potentials (SEPs) induced by proprioceptive stimulation showed only late components, the amplitudes of which changed in various attentive situations. Multiunit activity showed spontaneous 3- to 6-Hz rhythmic bursts. And a lesion produced neglect of contralateral extremities and an ipsilateral decrease of scalp-recorded SEP late components. In contrast, in the areas located immediately posterior and dorsal, electrical stimulation produced contralateral paresthesias. Early components of SEPs could be recorded, as were rhythmic bursts of multiunit activity after the occurrence of peripheral tremor. Lesions produced sensory deficits in the contralateral extremities and ipsilateral blocking of all components of scalp SEPs. The latter areas are identified as the lemniscal system, but the former seem to be extralemniscal. Their electrophysiological characteristics suggest that they are probably involved in the process of selective attention and motor control

Adaptive changes in motor control of rhythmic movement after maximal eccentric actions

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reijo Bottas ◽  
Caroline Nicol ◽  
Paavo V. Komi ◽  
Vesa Linnamo
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Rhythmic Movement ◽  
Adaptive Changes ◽  
Eccentric Actions

Adaptive Changes of opposite Sign in the Oculomotor Systems of the Two Eyes

1974 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Craske ◽  
Martin Crawshaw
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Control System ◽  
Binocular Vision ◽  
Distance Perception ◽  
Opposite Sign ◽  
Lateral Shift ◽  
Adaptive Changes ◽  
Motor Control System

Subjects inspected their feet via base-out prisms for 3 min. Using binocular vision, subsequent reaching without prisms showed significant overestimation of distance. Monocular testing showed a lateral shift in pointing to targets in opposite directions for each eye. This indicates that registered, as opposed to actual, convergence is a factor in near distance perception, and that opposite adaptation occurs within the motor control system for each eye.

scholarly journals Heterochromatin-enriched assemblies reveal the sequence and organization of the Drosophila melanogaster Y chromosome

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Ho Chang ◽  
Amanda M. Larracuente
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Gene Family ◽  
Gene Conversion ◽  
Y Chromosome ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
De Novo ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Conversion Rates ◽  
Multiple Copies

ABSTRACTHeterochromatic regions of the genome are repeat-rich and gene poor, and are therefore underrepresented in even in the best genome assemblies. One of the most difficult regions of the genome to assemble are sex-limited chromosomes. The Drosophila melanogaster Y chromosome is entirely heterochromatic, yet has wide-ranging effects on male fertility, fitness, and genome-wide gene expression. The genetic basis of this phenotypic variation is difficult to study, in part because we do not know the detailed organization of the Y chromosome. To study Y chromosome organization in D. melanogaster, we develop an assembly strategy involving the in silico enrichment of heterochromatic long single-molecule reads and use these reads to create targeted de novo assemblies of heterochromatic sequences. We assigned contigs to the Y chromosome using Illumina reads to identify male-specific sequences. Our pipeline extends the D. melanogaster reference genome by 11.9-Mb, closes 43.8% of the gaps, and improves overall contiguity. The addition of 10.6 MB of Y-linked sequence permitted us to study the organization of repeats and genes along the Y chromosome. We detected a high rate of duplication to the pericentric regions of the Y chromosome from other regions in the genome. Most of these duplicated genes exist in multiple copies. We detail the evolutionary history of one sex-linked gene family—crystal-Stellate. While the Y chromosome does not undergo crossing over, we observed high gene conversion rates within and between members of the crystal-Stellate gene family, Su(Ste), and PCKR, compared to genome-wide estimates. Our results suggest that gene conversion and gene duplication play an important role in the evolution of Y-linked genes.

scholarly journals Replicating Light-Off Startle Responses in Drosophila melanogaster

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Allen ◽  
William J. Budenberg
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Startle Response ◽  
Video Tracking ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
High Throughput Technology ◽  
Behavioural Research ◽  
Reproducible Method ◽  
Measured Distance ◽  
Pharmacological Manipulations ◽  
Behavioural Evidence

AbstractWe present a highly reproducible method for investigating the startle flight responses of wild type Drosophila melanogaster to light-off stimuli, using the automated Zantiks MWP unit. The built-in, live video-tracking of the Zantiks unit measured distance travelled between frames for 24 flies after light-off stimuli, whilst providing video-recordings of each startle. Using light-off stimuli which elicited peak startling, we found evidence for habituation of the startle response after only a few consecutive trials. Distance travelled on startle trials was reduced when a prepulse stimulus of shorter duration was introduced before the light-off stimulus, providing behavioural evidence for prepulse inhibition (PPI). Deficits in habituation and PPI are linked to various psychiatric disorders and our method holds great potential for use alongside genetic and pharmacological manipulations. Here, we demonstrate the capability of this highly automated, high throughput technology to streamline behavioural research on Drosophila, using a replicable, controlled environment.

scholarly journals Modulation of social space by dopamine in Drosophila melanogaster, but no effect on the avoidance of the Drosophila stress odorant

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 20170369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Fernandez ◽  
Adesanya A. Akinleye ◽  
Marat Nurilov ◽  
Omar Feliciano ◽  
Matthew Lollar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Social Spacing ◽  
Pharmacological Manipulations

Appropriate response to others is necessary for social interactions. Yet little is known about how neurotransmitters regulate attractive and repulsive social cues. Using genetic and pharmacological manipulations in Drosophila melanogaster , we show that dopamine is contributing the response to others in a social group, specifically, social spacing, but not the avoidance of odours released by stressed flies (dSO). Interestingly, this dopamine-mediated behaviour is prominent only in the day-time, and its effect varies depending on tissue, sex and type of manipulation. Furthermore, alteration of dopamine levels has no effect on dSO avoidance regardless of sex, which suggests that a different neurotransmitter regulates this response.

scholarly journals Single-cell visualization of mir-9a and Senseless co-expression during Drosophila melanogaster embryonic and larval peripheral nervous system development

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Gallicchio ◽  
Sam Griffiths-Jones ◽  
Matthew Ronshaugen
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Peripheral Nervous System ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Active Sites ◽  
System Development ◽  
Nervous System Development ◽  
Dynamic Regulation ◽  
Dynamic Relationship

Abstract The Drosophila melanogaster peripheral nervous system (PNS) comprises the sensory organs that allow the fly to detect environmental factors such as temperature and pressure. PNS development is a highly specified process where each sensilla originates from a single sensory organ precursor (SOP) cell. One of the major genetic orchestrators of PNS development is Senseless, which encodes a zinc finger transcription factor (Sens). Sens is both necessary and sufficient for SOP differentiation. Senseless expression and SOP number are regulated by the microRNA miR-9a. However, the reciprocal dynamics of Senseless and miR-9a are still obscure. By coupling single-molecule FISH with immunofluorescence, we are able to visualize transcription of the mir-9a locus and expression of Sens simultaneously. During embryogenesis, we show that the expression of mir-9a in SOP cells is rapidly lost as Senseless expression increases. However, this mutually exclusive expression pattern is not observed in the third instar imaginal wing disk, where some Senseless-expressing cells show active sites of mir-9a transcription. These data challenge and extend previous models of Senseless regulation and show complex co-expression dynamics between mir-9a and Senseless. The differences in this dynamic relationship between embryonic and larval PNS development suggest a possible switch in miR-9a function. Our work brings single-cell resolution to the understanding of dynamic regulation of PNS development by Senseless and miR-9a.

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