PUBLICATION

Sensorimotor computation underlying phototaxis in zebrafish

Authors

Wolf, S., Dubreuil, A.M., Bertoni, T., Böhm, U.L., Bormuth, V., Candelier, R., Karpenko, S., Hildebrand, D.G.C., Bianco, I.H., Monasson, R., Debrégeas, G.

ID

ZDB-PUB-170923-6

Date

2017

Source

Nature communications 8: 651 (Journal)

Registered Authors

Bianco, Isaac

Keywords

Dynamical systems, Navigation, Neural circuits, Saccades, Sensory processing

MeSH Terms

Animals
Rhombencephalon/physiology
Rhombencephalon/radiation effects
Larva/physiology
Larva/radiation effects
Zebrafish/physiology*
Models, Biological
Behavior, Animal/radiation effects
Neurons/physiology
Neurons/radiation effects
Locomotion/radiation effects
Phototaxis/radiation effects*
Light

PubMed

28935857 Full text @ Nat. Commun.

Abstract

Animals continuously gather sensory cues to move towards favourable environments. Efficient goal-directed navigation requires sensory perception and motor commands to be intertwined in a feedback loop, yet the neural substrate underlying this sensorimotor task in the vertebrate brain remains elusive. Here, we combine virtual-reality behavioural assays, volumetric calcium imaging, optogenetic stimulation and circuit modelling to reveal the neural mechanisms through which a zebrafish performs phototaxis, i.e. actively orients towards a light source. Key to this process is a self-oscillating hindbrain population (HBO) that acts as a pacemaker for ocular saccades and controls the orientation of successive swim-bouts. It further integrates visual stimuli in a state-dependent manner, i.e. its response to visual inputs varies with the motor context, a mechanism that manifests itself in the phase-locked entrainment of the HBO by periodic stimuli. A rate model is developed that reproduces our observations and demonstrates how this sensorimotor processing eventually biases the animal trajectory towards bright regions.Active locomotion requires closed-loop sensorimotor co ordination between perception and action. Here the authors show using behavioural, imaging and modelling approaches that gaze orientation during phototaxis behaviour in larval zebrafish is related to oscillatory dynamics of a neuronal population in the hindbrain.

Genes / Markers

Figures