Candidate neural substrates for off-edge motion detection in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the fly's visual motion pathways, two cell types-T4 and T5-are the first known relay neurons to signal small-field direction-selective motion responses [1]. These cells then feed into large tangential cells that signal wide-field motion. Recent studies have identified two types of columnar neurons in the second neuropil, or medulla, that relay input to T4 from L1, the ON-channel neuron in the first neuropil, or lamina, thus providing a candidate substrate for the elementary motion detector (EMD) [2]. Interneurons relaying the OFF channel from L1's partner, L2, to T5 are so far not known, however.

Results

Here we report that multiple types of transmedulla (Tm) neurons provide unexpectedly complex inputs to T5 at their terminals in the third neuropil, or lobula.

SUBMITTER: Shinomiya K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4031294 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature