Project description
Understanding the interconnection between neural computations and motion corrections
Organism task performance requires rapid correction of erroneous action based on current posture and behavioural goals. The mechanisms of control and coordination of these functions across the central nervous system remain unknown. The ERC-funded ECoFly project aims to study the circuits involved in movement monitoring as key intermediaries between motor planning and posture-dependent execution using the Drosophila melanogaster brain. Previous studies have identified a circuit that is sensitive to angular velocity and interconnected to the fly’s analogue of the spinal cord and higher-order brain areas. Using a combination of electron microscopy, behaviour, physiology, optogenetics, and modelling the current project will uncover the circuit mechanisms for course correction, establishing causal relationships between neural computations and movement.
Objective
To survive in natural habitats, animals move through space according to their goals. However, the uncertainties of the environment, alongside inevitable variations in neuromuscular signals, change the context in which a walking step occurs, leading to unintended movement. Thus, task performance can be jeopardized if the erroneous action is not rapidly corrected based on current posture and behavioral goals. How these aspects of control functions are implemented and coordinated across the Central Nervous System remains unknown. Here we propose studying the circuits involved in monitoring our movements, since they are key intermediaries between motor planning and posture-dependent execution. Using the compact brain of the fly Drosophila melanogaster, we will ask two fundamental questions: how is neural activity distributed across multiple networks integrated to estimate self-motion? How is this internal estimate used to correct erroneous movement? Using a self-paced behavior, in which a fly drifting from a stable heading turns based on an internal drift estimate, we have found a circuit sensitive to angular velocity, richly interconnected to the flys analogue of the spinal cord and higher-order brain areas, and critical to drift-based turns. We will leverage these results, and combine them with electron microscopy, behavior, physiology, optogenetics and modelling to study circuit mechanisms for course correction. We will: 1) use connectomics and manipulations of neural activity to identify pathways involved in corrective turns, 2) record from the identified neurons and correlate their activity with behavior, 3) perturb cell type-specific neurons to test their role on self-motion computations and on corrective turns, and 4) test neural activity in different behavioral contexts. These experiments will establish unprecedented causal relationships between neural computations and movement and reveal the functional organization of distributed circuits for walking control.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopy
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiology
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
1400-038 Lisboa
Portugal