Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in Drosophila

Identifying neural substrates of behavior requires defining actions in terms that map onto brain activity. Brain and muscle activity naturally correlate via the output of motor neurons, but apart from simple movements it has been difficult to define behavior in terms of muscle contractions. By mappi...

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Main Authors: Amicia D Elliott, Adama Berndt, Matthew Houpert, Snehashis Roy, Robert L Scott, Carson C Chow, Hari Shroff, Benjamin H White
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 2021-07-01
Series:eLife
Subjects:
Online Access:https://elifesciences.org/articles/68656
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author Amicia D Elliott
Adama Berndt
Matthew Houpert
Snehashis Roy
Robert L Scott
Carson C Chow
Hari Shroff
Benjamin H White
author_facet Amicia D Elliott
Adama Berndt
Matthew Houpert
Snehashis Roy
Robert L Scott
Carson C Chow
Hari Shroff
Benjamin H White
author_sort Amicia D Elliott
collection DOAJ
description Identifying neural substrates of behavior requires defining actions in terms that map onto brain activity. Brain and muscle activity naturally correlate via the output of motor neurons, but apart from simple movements it has been difficult to define behavior in terms of muscle contractions. By mapping the musculature of the pupal fruit fly and comprehensively imaging muscle activation at single-cell resolution, we here describe a multiphasic behavioral sequence in Drosophila. Our characterization identifies a previously undescribed behavioral phase and permits extraction of major movements by a convolutional neural network. We deconstruct movements into a syllabary of co-active muscles and identify specific syllables that are sensitive to neuromodulatory manipulations. We find that muscle activity shows considerable variability, with sequential increases in stereotypy dependent upon neuromodulation. Our work provides a platform for studying whole-animal behavior, quantifying its variability across multiple spatiotemporal scales, and analyzing its neuromodulatory regulation at cellular resolution.
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spelling doaj.art-955c4a750d0e43af966bec6ffb5982512022-12-22T03:52:45ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2021-07-011010.7554/eLife.68656Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in DrosophilaAmicia D Elliott0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3089-1786Adama Berndt1Matthew Houpert2Snehashis Roy3Robert L Scott4Carson C Chow5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1463-9553Hari Shroff6Benjamin H White7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0612-8075National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States; National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesNational Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesNational Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesNational Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesNational Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesNational Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesNational Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United StatesIdentifying neural substrates of behavior requires defining actions in terms that map onto brain activity. Brain and muscle activity naturally correlate via the output of motor neurons, but apart from simple movements it has been difficult to define behavior in terms of muscle contractions. By mapping the musculature of the pupal fruit fly and comprehensively imaging muscle activation at single-cell resolution, we here describe a multiphasic behavioral sequence in Drosophila. Our characterization identifies a previously undescribed behavioral phase and permits extraction of major movements by a convolutional neural network. We deconstruct movements into a syllabary of co-active muscles and identify specific syllables that are sensitive to neuromodulatory manipulations. We find that muscle activity shows considerable variability, with sequential increases in stereotypy dependent upon neuromodulation. Our work provides a platform for studying whole-animal behavior, quantifying its variability across multiple spatiotemporal scales, and analyzing its neuromodulatory regulation at cellular resolution.https://elifesciences.org/articles/68656neural circuitcomputational ethologybursiconCCAPecdysisecdysis triggering hormone
spellingShingle Amicia D Elliott
Adama Berndt
Matthew Houpert
Snehashis Roy
Robert L Scott
Carson C Chow
Hari Shroff
Benjamin H White
Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in Drosophila
eLife
neural circuit
computational ethology
bursicon
CCAP
ecdysis
ecdysis triggering hormone
title Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in Drosophila
title_full Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in Drosophila
title_fullStr Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in Drosophila
title_full_unstemmed Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in Drosophila
title_short Pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in Drosophila
title_sort pupal behavior emerges from unstructured muscle activity in response to neuromodulation in drosophila
topic neural circuit
computational ethology
bursicon
CCAP
ecdysis
ecdysis triggering hormone
url https://elifesciences.org/articles/68656
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