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The Journal of Neuroscience, February 21, 2007, 27(8):1992-2000; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4393-06.2007

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Integration of Lobula Plate Output Signals by DNOVS1, an Identified Premotor Descending Neuron

Juergen Haag, Adrian Wertz, and Alexander Borst

Department of Systems and Computational Neurobiology, Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Juergen Haag, Department of Systems and Computational Neurobiology, Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, Am Klopferspitz 18, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany. Email: haag{at}neuro.mpg.de

Many motion-sensitive tangential cells of the lobula plate in blowflies are well described with respect to their visual response properties and the connectivity among them. They have large and complex receptive fields with different preferred directions in different parts of their receptive fields matching the optic flow that occurs during various flight maneuvers. However, much less is known about how tangential cells connect to postsynaptic neurons descending to the motor circuits in the thoracic ganglion and how optic flow is represented in these downstream neurons. Here we describe the physiology and the connectivity of a prominent descending neuron called DNOVS1 (for descending neurons of the ocellar and vertical system). We find that DNOVS1 is electrically coupled to a subset of vertical system cells. The specific wiring leads to a preference of DNOVS1 for rotational flow fields around a particular body axis. In addition, DNOVS1 receives input from interneurons connected to the ocelli.

Key words: motion detection; insect; vision; descending; gap junction; flow field

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Received Oct. 9, 2006; revised Dec. 15, 2006; accepted Dec. 16, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Juergen Haag, Department of Systems and Computational Neurobiology, Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, Am Klopferspitz 18, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany. Email: haag{at}neuro.mpg.de

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Wertz, A. Borst, and J. Haag Nonlinear Integration of Binocular Optic Flow by DNOVS2, A Descending Neuron of the Fly J. Neurosci., March 19, 2008; 28(12): 3131 - 3140. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. van Kleef, R. Berry, and G. Stange Directional Selectivity in the Simple Eye of an Insect J. Neurosci., March 12, 2008; 28(11): 2845 - 2855. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Cuntz, J. Haag, F. Forstner, I. Segev, and A. Borst Robust coding of flow-field parameters by axo-axonal gap junctions between fly visual interneurons PNAS, June 12, 2007; 104(24): 10229 - 10233. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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