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Kiuchi K, Shidara H, Iwatani Y, Ogawa H. Motor state changes escape behavior of crickets. iScience 2023; 26:107345. [PMID: 37554465 PMCID: PMC10405261 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Animals change their behavior depending on external circumstances, internal factors, and their interactions. Locomotion state is a crucial internal factor that profoundly affects sensory perception and behavior. However, studying the behavioral impacts of locomotion state in free-moving animals has been challenging due to difficulty in reproducing quantitatively identical stimuli in freely moving animals. We utilized a closed-loop controlled servosphere treadmill system, enabling unrestricted confinement and orientation of small animals, and investigated wind-induced escape behavior in freely moving crickets. When stimulated during locomotion, the crickets quickly stopped before initiating escape behavior. Moving crickets exhibited a higher probability of escape response compared to stationary crickets. The threshold for pausing response in moving crickets was also much lower than the escape response threshold. Moving crickets had delayed reaction times for escape and greater variance in movement direction compared to stationary crickets. The locomotion-related response delay may be compensated by an elevated sensitivity to airflow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuhide Kiuchi
- Biosystems Science Course, Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
- Department of Biochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University, Tsu 514-8507, Japan
| | - Yasushi Iwatani
- Department of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki 036-8561, Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
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Lu A, Fukutomi M, Shidara H, Ogawa H. Persistence of auditory modulation of wind-induced escape behavior in crickets. Front Physiol 2023; 14:1153913. [PMID: 37250114 PMCID: PMC10214467 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1153913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Animals, including insects, change their innate escape behavior triggered by a specific threat stimulus depending on the environmental context to survive adaptively the predators' attack. This indicates that additional inputs from sensory organs of different modalities indicating surrounding conditions could affect the neuronal circuit responsible for the escape behavior. Field crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus, exhibit an oriented running or jumping escape in response to short air puff detected by the abdominal mechanosensory organ called cerci. Crickets also receive a high-frequency acoustic stimulus by their tympanal organs on their frontal legs, which suggests approaching bats as a predator. We have reported that the crickets modulate their wind-elicited escape running in the moving direction when they are exposed to an acoustic stimulus preceded by the air puff. However, it remains unclear how long the effects of auditory inputs indicating surrounding contexts last after the sound is terminated. In this study, we applied a short pulse (200 ms) of 15-kHz pure tone to the crickets in various intervals before the air-puff stimulus. The sound given 200 or 1000 ms before the air puff biased the wind-elicited escape running backward, like the previous studies using the longer and overlapped sound. But the sounds that started 2000 ms before and simultaneously with the air puff had little effect. In addition, the jumping probability was higher only when the delay of air puff to the sound was 1000 ms. These results suggest that the cricket could retain the auditory memory for at least one second and alter the motion choice and direction of the wind-elicited escape behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anhua Lu
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Matasaburo Fukutomi
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
- Department of Biochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University, Tsu, Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
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Yamao H, Shidara H, Ogawa H. Central projections of cercal giant interneurons in the adult field cricket,
Gryllus bimaculatus. J Comp Neurol 2022; 530:2372-2384. [DOI: 10.1002/cne.25336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Hiroki Yamao
- Department of Biological Sciences School of Science Hokkaido University Sapporo Japan
- Graduate School of Life Sciences Tohoku University Sendai Japan
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University Sapporo Japan
- Department of Biochemistry Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University Tsu Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University Sapporo Japan
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Sato N, Shidara H, Kamo S, Ogawa H. Roles of neural communication between the brain and thoracic ganglia in the selection and regulation of the cricket escape behavior. JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 139:104381. [PMID: 35305989 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2022.104381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
To survive a predator's attack, prey animals must exhibit escape responses that are appropriately regulated in terms of their moving speed, distance, and direction. Insect locomotion is considered to be controlled by an interaction between the brain, which is involved in behavioral decision-making, and the thoracic ganglia (TG), which are primary motor centers. However, it remains unknown which descending and ascending signals between these neural centers are involved in the regulation of the escape behavior. We addressed the distinct roles of the brain and TG in the wind-elicited escape behavior of crickets by assessing the effects of partial ablation of the intersegmental communications on escape responses. We unilaterally cut the ventral nerve cord (VNC) at different locations, between the brain and TG, or between the TG and terminal abdominal ganglion (TAG), a primary sensory center of the cercal system. The partial ablation of ascending signals to the brain greatly reduced the jumping response rather than running, indicating that sensory information processing in the brain is essential for the choice of escape responses. The ablation of descending signals from the brain to the TG impaired locomotor performance and directional control of the escape responses, suggesting that locomotion in the escape behavior largely depends on the descending signals from the brain. Finally, the extracellular recording from the cervical VNC indicated a difference in the descending activities preceding the escape responses between running and jumping. Our results demonstrated that the brain sends the descending signals encoding the behavioral choice and locomotor regulation to the TG, while the TG seem to have other specific roles, such as in the preparation of escape movement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nodoka Sato
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Shunsuke Kamo
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
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Ifere NO, Shidara H, Sato N, Ogawa H. Spatial perception mediated by insect antennal mechanosensory system. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:274502. [PMID: 35072207 PMCID: PMC8920036 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Animals perceive their surroundings by using various modalities of sensory inputs to guide their locomotion. Nocturnal insects such as crickets use mechanosensory inputs mediated by their antennae to orient in darkness. Spatial information is acquired via voluntary antennal contacts with surrounding objects, but it remains unclear whether the insects modulate behaviors mediated by other sensory organs based on that information. Crickets exhibit escape behavior in response to a short air-puff, which is detected by the abdominal mechanosensory organs called cerci and is perceived as a “predator approach” signal. We placed objects of different shapes at different locations with which the cricket actively made contact using its antenna. We then examined the effects on wind-elicited escape behavior. The crickets changed their movement trajectory in response to nearby objects like walls so that they could avoid collision with these obstacles even during the cercal-mediated behavior. For instance, when a wall was placed in front of the crickets so that it was detected by one antenna, the escape trajectory in response to a stimulus from behind was significantly biased toward the side opposite the wall. Even when the antenna on the free side without the wall was ablated, this collision avoidance was also observed, suggesting that the mechanosensory inputs from one antenna detecting an object edge would be sufficient to perceive the location of obstacle in front. This study demonstrated that crickets were able to use the spatial information acquired with their antennal system to modify their behavior mediated by other sensory organs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Nodoka Sato
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
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Sato N, Shidara H, Ogawa H. Action selection based on multiple-stimulus aspects in wind-elicited escape behavior of crickets. Heliyon 2022; 8:e08800. [PMID: 35111985 PMCID: PMC8790502 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2021] [Revised: 10/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Escape behavior is essential for animals to avoid attacks by predators. In some species, multiple escape responses could be employed. However, it remains unknown what aspects of threat stimuli affect the choice of an escape response. We focused on two distinct escape responses (running and jumping) to short airflow in crickets and examined the effects of multiple stimulus aspects including the angle, velocity, and duration on the choice between these responses. The faster and longer the airflow, the more frequently the crickets jumped. This meant that the choice of an escape response depends on both the velocity and duration of the stimulus and suggests that the neural basis for choosing an escape response includes the integration process of multiple stimulus parameters. In addition, the moving speed and distance changed depending on the stimulus velocity and duration for running but not for jumping. Running away would be more adaptive escape behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nodoka Sato
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
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Sato N, Shidara H, Ogawa H. Trade-off between motor performance and behavioural flexibility in the action selection of cricket escape behaviour. Sci Rep 2019; 9:18112. [PMID: 31792301 PMCID: PMC6889515 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-54555-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
To survive a predator’s attack successfully, animals choose appropriate actions from multiple escape responses. The motor performance of escape response governs successful survival, which implies that the action selection in escape behaviour is based on the trade-off between competing behavioural benefits. Thus, quantitative assessment of motor performance will shed light on the biological basis of decision-making. To explore the trade-off underlying the action selection, we focused on two distinct wind-elicited escape responses of crickets, running and jumping. We first hypothesized a trade-off between speed and directional accuracy. This hypothesis was rejected because crickets could control the escape direction in jumping as precisely as in running; further, jumping had advantages with regard to escape speed. Next, we assumed behavioural flexibility, including responsiveness to additional predator’s attacks, as a benefit of running. The double stimulus experiment revealed that crickets running in the first response could respond more frequently to a second stimulus and control the movement direction more precisely compared to when they chose jumping for the first response. These data suggest that not only the motor performance but also the future adaptability of subsequent behaviours are considered as behavioural benefits, which may be used for choosing appropriate escape reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nodoka Sato
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan.
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Iwatani Y, Ogawa H, Shidara H, Sakura M, Sato T, Hojo MK, Honma A, Tsurui-Sato K. Markerless visual servo control of a servosphere for behavior observation of a variety of wandering animals. Adv Robot 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/01691864.2019.1570334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yasushi Iwatani
- Department of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Hisashi Shidara
- Department of Biological Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | | | - Takuya Sato
- Department of Biology, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
| | - Masaru K. Hojo
- Department of Bioscience, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda, Japan
| | - Atsushi Honma
- Okinawa Prefectural Plant Protection Center, Naha, Japan
- Graduate School of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Japan
| | - Kaori Tsurui-Sato
- Center for Strategic Research Project, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Japan
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Someya M, Ogawa H. Multisensory enhancement of burst activity in an insect auditory neuron. J Neurophysiol 2018; 120:139-148. [PMID: 29641303 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00798.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Detecting predators is crucial for survival. In insects, a few sensory interneurons receiving sensory input from a distinct receptive organ extract specific features informing the animal about approaching predators and mediate avoidance behaviors. Although integration of multiple sensory cues relevant to the predator enhances sensitivity and precision, it has not been established whether the sensory interneurons that act as predator detectors integrate multiple modalities of sensory inputs elicited by predators. Using intracellular recording techniques, we found that the cricket auditory neuron AN2, which is sensitive to the ultrasound-like echolocation calls of bats, responds to airflow stimuli transduced by the cercal organ, a mechanoreceptor in the abdomen. AN2 enhanced spike outputs in response to cross-modal stimuli combining sound with airflow, and the linearity of the summation of multisensory integration depended on the magnitude of the evoked response. The enhanced AN2 activity contained bursts, triggering avoidance behavior. Moreover, cross-modal stimuli elicited larger and longer lasting excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSP) than unimodal stimuli, which would result from a sublinear summation of EPSPs evoked respectively by sound or airflow. The persistence of EPSPs was correlated with the occurrence and structure of burst activity. Our findings indicate that AN2 integrates bimodal signals and that multisensory integration rather than unimodal stimulation alone more reliably generates bursting activity. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Crickets detect ultrasound with their tympanum and airflow with their cercal organ and process them as alert signals of predators. These sensory signals are integrated by auditory neuron AN2 in the early stages of sensory processing. Multisensory inputs from different sensory channels enhanced excitatory postsynaptic potentials to facilitate burst firing, which could trigger avoidance steering in flying crickets. Our results highlight the cellular basis of multisensory integration in AN2 and possible effects on escape behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Makoto Someya
- Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University , Sapporo , Japan
| | - Hiroto Ogawa
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University , Sapporo , Japan
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