An Inexpensive, High-Precision, Modular Spherical Treadmill Setup Optimized for Drosophila Experiments.

ABSTRACT: To pursue a more mechanistic understanding of the neural control of behavior, many neuroethologists study animal behavior in controlled laboratory environments. One popular approach is to measure the movements of restrained animals while presenting controlled sensory stimulation. This approach is especially powerful when applied to genetic model organisms, such as Drosophila melanogaster, where modern genetic tools enable unprecedented access to the nervous system for activity monitoring or targeted manipulation. While there is a long history of measuring the behavior of body- and head-fixed insects walking on an air-supported ball, the methods typically require complex setups with many custom components. Here we present a compact, simplified setup for these experiments that achieve

SUBMITTER: Loesche F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8322621 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature