TY - JOUR

T1 - Autonomous circuitry for substrate exploration in freely moving Drosophila larvae

AU - Berni, Jimena

AU - Pulver, Stefan R

AU - Griffith, Leslie C

AU - Bate, Michael

N1 - Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2012/10/23

Y1 - 2012/10/23

N2 - Many organisms, from bacteria to human hunter-gatherers, use specialized random walk strategies to explore their environment. Such behaviors are an efficient stratagem for sampling the environment and usually consist of an alternation between straight runs and turns that redirect these runs. Drosophila larvae execute an exploratory routine of this kind that consists of sequences of straight crawls, pauses, turns, and redirected crawls. Central pattern generating networks underlying rhythmic movements are distributed along the anteroposterior axis of the nervous system. The way in which the operation of these networks is incorporated into extended behavioral routines such as substrate exploration has not yet been explored. In particular, the part played by the brain in dictating the sequence of movements required is unknown.

AB - Many organisms, from bacteria to human hunter-gatherers, use specialized random walk strategies to explore their environment. Such behaviors are an efficient stratagem for sampling the environment and usually consist of an alternation between straight runs and turns that redirect these runs. Drosophila larvae execute an exploratory routine of this kind that consists of sequences of straight crawls, pauses, turns, and redirected crawls. Central pattern generating networks underlying rhythmic movements are distributed along the anteroposterior axis of the nervous system. The way in which the operation of these networks is incorporated into extended behavioral routines such as substrate exploration has not yet been explored. In particular, the part played by the brain in dictating the sequence of movements required is unknown.

KW - Abdomen

KW - Animals

KW - Brain

KW - Central Pattern Generators

KW - Chemotaxis

KW - Drosophila

KW - Exploratory Behavior

KW - Ganglia, Invertebrate

KW - Larva

KW - Movement

KW - Synapses

KW - Thorax

U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2012.07.048

DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2012.07.048

M3 - Article

C2 - 22940472

VL - 22

SP - 1861

EP - 1870

JO - Current biology : CB

JF - Current biology : CB

SN - 1879-0445

IS - 20

ER -