Identification of Nonvisual Photomotor Response Cells in the Vertebrate Hindbrain
Kokel, D., Dunn, T.W., Ahrens, M.B., Alshut, R., Cheung, C.Y., Saint-Amant, L., Bruni, G., Mateus, R., van Ham, T.J., Shiraki, T., Fukada, Y., Kojima, D., Yeh, J.R., Mikut, R., von Lintig, J., Engert, F., and Peterson, R.T.
Date:
2013
Source:
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
33(9):
3834-3843 (Journal)
Kokel, D., Dunn, T.W., Ahrens, M.B., Alshut, R., Cheung, C.Y., Saint-Amant, L., Bruni, G., Mateus, R., van Ham, T.J., Shiraki, T., Fukada, Y., Kojima, D., Yeh, J.R., Mikut, R., von Lintig, J., Engert, F., and Peterson, R.T. (2013) Identification of Nonvisual Photomotor Response Cells in the Vertebrate Hindbrain. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 33(9):3834-3843.
Nonvisual photosensation enables animals to sense light without sight. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of nonvisual
photobehaviors are poorly understood, especially in vertebrate animals. Here, we describe the photomotor response (PMR), a
robust and reproducible series of motor behaviors in zebrafish that is elicited by visual wavelengths of light but does not
require the eyes, pineal gland, or other canonical deep-brain photoreceptive organs. Unlike the relatively slow effects of
canonical nonvisual pathways, motor circuits are strongly and quickly (seconds) recruited during the PMR behavior. We find
that the hindbrain is both necessary and sufficient to drive these behaviors. Using in vivo calcium imaging, we identify a discrete set of neurons within the hindbrain whose responses to light mirror the PMR behavior.
Pharmacological inhibition of the visual cycle blocks PMR behaviors, suggesting that opsin-based photoreceptors control this
behavior. These data represent the first known light-sensing circuit in the vertebrate hindbrain.
