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Spikol ED, Cheng J, Macurak M, Subedi A, Halpern ME. Genetically defined nucleus incertus neurons differ in connectivity and function. eLife 2024; 12:RP89516. [PMID: 38819436 PMCID: PMC11142643 DOI: 10.7554/elife.89516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The nucleus incertus (NI), a conserved hindbrain structure implicated in the stress response, arousal, and memory, is a major site for production of the neuropeptide relaxin-3. On the basis of goosecoid homeobox 2 (gsc2) expression, we identified a neuronal cluster that lies adjacent to relaxin 3a (rln3a) neurons in the zebrafish analogue of the NI. To delineate the characteristics of the gsc2 and rln3a NI neurons, we used CRISPR/Cas9 targeted integration to drive gene expression specifically in each neuronal group, and found that they differ in their efferent and afferent connectivity, spontaneous activity, and functional properties. gsc2 and rln3a NI neurons have widely divergent projection patterns and innervate distinct subregions of the midbrain interpeduncular nucleus (IPN). Whereas gsc2 neurons are activated more robustly by electric shock, rln3a neurons exhibit spontaneous fluctuations in calcium signaling and regulate locomotor activity. Our findings define heterogeneous neurons in the NI and provide new tools to probe its diverse functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma D Spikol
- Department of Molecular and Systems Biology, Geisel School of Medicine at DartmouthHanoverUnited States
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimoreUnited States
| | - Ji Cheng
- Department of Molecular and Systems Biology, Geisel School of Medicine at DartmouthHanoverUnited States
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreUnited States
| | - Michelle Macurak
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreUnited States
| | - Abhignya Subedi
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreUnited States
| | - Marnie E Halpern
- Department of Molecular and Systems Biology, Geisel School of Medicine at DartmouthHanoverUnited States
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimoreUnited States
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreUnited States
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Palieri V, Paoli E, Wu YK, Haesemeyer M, Grunwald Kadow IC, Portugues R. The preoptic area and dorsal habenula jointly support homeostatic navigation in larval zebrafish. Curr Biol 2024; 34:489-504.e7. [PMID: 38211586 PMCID: PMC10849091 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Animals must maintain physiological processes within an optimal temperature range despite changes in their environment. Through behavioral assays, whole-brain functional imaging, and neural ablations, we show that larval zebrafish, an ectothermic vertebrate, achieves thermoregulation through homeostatic navigation-non-directional and directional movements toward the temperature closest to its physiological setpoint. A brain-wide circuit encompassing several brain regions enables this behavior. We identified the preoptic area of the hypothalamus (PoA) as a key brain structure in triggering non-directional reorientation when thermal conditions are worsening. This result shows an evolutionary conserved role of the PoA as principal thermoregulator of the brain also in ectotherms. We further show that the habenula (Hb)-interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) circuit retains a short-term memory of the sensory history to support the generation of coherent directed movements even in the absence of continuous sensory cues. We finally provide evidence that this circuit may not be exclusive for temperature but may convey a more abstract representation of relative valence of physiologically meaningful stimuli regardless of their specific identity to enable homeostatic navigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia Palieri
- Institute of Neuroscience, Technical University of Munich, Biedersteiner Strasse 29, 80802 Munich, Germany; School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
| | - Emanuele Paoli
- Institute of Neuroscience, Technical University of Munich, Biedersteiner Strasse 29, 80802 Munich, Germany
| | - You Kure Wu
- Institute of Neuroscience, Technical University of Munich, Biedersteiner Strasse 29, 80802 Munich, Germany
| | - Martin Haesemeyer
- Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Ilona C Grunwald Kadow
- School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany; Institute of Physiology II, University of Bonn, Medical Faculty (UKB), Nussallee 11, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
| | - Ruben Portugues
- Institute of Neuroscience, Technical University of Munich, Biedersteiner Strasse 29, 80802 Munich, Germany; Munich Cluster of Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Feodor-Lynen-Str. 17, 81377 Munich, Germany.
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Mussells Pires P, Zhang L, Parache V, Abbott LF, Maimon G. Converting an allocentric goal into an egocentric steering signal. Nature 2024; 626:808-818. [PMID: 38326612 PMCID: PMC10881393 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-07006-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
Neuronal signals that are relevant for spatial navigation have been described in many species1-10. However, a circuit-level understanding of how such signals interact to guide navigational behaviour is lacking. Here we characterize a neuronal circuit in the Drosophila central complex that compares internally generated estimates of the heading and goal angles of the fly-both of which are encoded in world-centred (allocentric) coordinates-to generate a body-centred (egocentric) steering signal. Past work has suggested that the activity of EPG neurons represents the fly's moment-to-moment angular orientation, or heading angle, during navigation2,11. An animal's moment-to-moment heading angle, however, is not always aligned with its goal angle-that is, the allocentric direction in which it wishes to progress forward. We describe FC2 cells12, a second set of neurons in the Drosophila brain with activity that correlates with the fly's goal angle. Focal optogenetic activation of FC2 neurons induces flies to orient along experimenter-defined directions as they walk forward. EPG and FC2 neurons connect monosynaptically to a third neuronal class, PFL3 cells12,13. We found that individual PFL3 cells show conjunctive, spike-rate tuning to both the heading angle and the goal angle during goal-directed navigation. Informed by the anatomy and physiology of these three cell classes, we develop a model that explains how this circuit compares allocentric heading and goal angles to build an egocentric steering signal in the PFL3 output terminals. Quantitative analyses and optogenetic manipulations of PFL3 activity support the model. Finally, using a new navigational memory task, we show that flies expressing disruptors of synaptic transmission in subsets of PFL3 cells have a reduced ability to orient along arbitrary goal directions, with an effect size in quantitative accordance with the prediction of our model. The biological circuit described here reveals how two population-level allocentric signals are compared in the brain to produce an egocentric output signal that is appropriate for motor control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Mussells Pires
- Laboratory of Integrative Brain Function and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Lingwei Zhang
- Laboratory of Integrative Brain Function and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Victoria Parache
- Laboratory of Integrative Brain Function and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - L F Abbott
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Gaby Maimon
- Laboratory of Integrative Brain Function and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
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Lee TJ, Briggman KL. Visually guided and context-dependent spatial navigation in the translucent fish Danionella cerebrum. Curr Biol 2023; 33:5467-5477.e4. [PMID: 38070503 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.11.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Danionella cerebrum (DC) is a promising vertebrate animal model for systems neuroscience due to its small adult brain volume and inherent optical transparency, but the scope of their cognitive abilities remains an area of active research. In this work, we established a behavioral paradigm to study visual spatial navigation in DC and investigate their navigational capabilities and strategies. We initially observed that adult DC exhibit strong negative phototaxis in groups but less so as individuals. Using their dark preference as a motivator, we designed a spatial navigation task inspired by the Morris water maze. Through a series of environmental cue manipulations, we found that DC utilize visual cues to anticipate a reward location and found evidence for landmark-based navigational strategies wherein DC could use both proximal and distal visual cues. When subsets of proximal visual cues were occluded, DC were capable of using distant contextual visual information to solve the task, providing evidence for allocentric spatial navigation. Without proximal visual cues, DC tended to seek out a direct line of sight with at least one distal visual cue while maintaining a positional bias toward the reward location. In total, our behavioral results suggest that DC can be used to study the neural mechanisms underlying spatial navigation with cellular resolution imaging across an adult vertebrate brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy J Lee
- Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar, Department of Computational Neuroethology, Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2, Bonn, 53175 North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
| | - Kevin L Briggman
- Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar, Department of Computational Neuroethology, Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2, Bonn, 53175 North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
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Moroz LL, Romanova DY. Chemical cognition: chemoconnectomics and convergent evolution of integrative systems in animals. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1851-1864. [PMID: 38015282 PMCID: PMC11106658 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01833-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Neurons underpin cognition in animals. However, the roots of animal cognition are elusive from both mechanistic and evolutionary standpoints. Two conceptual frameworks both highlight and promise to address these challenges. First, we discuss evidence that animal neural and other integrative systems evolved more than once (convergent evolution) within basal metazoan lineages, giving us unique experiments by Nature for future studies. The most remarkable examples are neural systems in ctenophores and neuroid-like systems in placozoans and sponges. Second, in addition to classical synaptic wiring, a chemical connectome mediated by hundreds of signal molecules operates in tandem with neurons and is the most information-rich source of emerging properties and adaptability. The major gap-dynamic, multifunctional chemical micro-environments in nervous systems-is not understood well. Thus, novel tools and information are needed to establish mechanistic links between orchestrated, yet cell-specific, volume transmission and behaviors. Uniting what we call chemoconnectomics and analyses of the cellular bases of behavior in basal metazoan lineages arguably would form the foundation for deciphering the origins and early evolution of elementary cognition and intelligence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonid L Moroz
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
- Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, Saint Augustine, USA.
| | - Daria Y Romanova
- Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of RAS, Moscow, Russia
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Liu Z, Bagnall MW. Organization of vestibular circuits for postural control in zebrafish. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2023; 82:102776. [PMID: 37634321 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2023.102776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
Most animals begin controlling their posture, or orientation with respect to gravity, at an early stage in life. Posture is vital for locomotor function. Even animals like fish, which are capable of swimming upside-down, must actively control their orientation to coordinate behaviors such as capturing prey near the water's surface. Here we review recent research from multiple laboratories investigating the organization and function of the vestibular circuits underlying postural control in zebrafish. Some findings in zebrafish strongly align with prior observations in mammals, reinforcing our understanding of homologies between systems. In other instances, the unique transparency and accessibility of zebrafish has enabled new analyses of several neural circuit components that remain challenging to study in mammalian systems. These new results demonstrate topographical and circuit features in postural control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhikai Liu
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis MO 63108, USA; Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. https://twitter.com/zhikai_liu
| | - Martha W Bagnall
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis MO 63108, USA.
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Beetz MJ, Kraus C, El Jundi B. Neural representation of goal direction in the monarch butterfly brain. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5859. [PMID: 37730704 PMCID: PMC10511513 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41526-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Neural processing of a desired moving direction requires the continuous comparison between the current heading and the goal direction. While the neural basis underlying the current heading is well-studied, the coding of the goal direction remains unclear in insects. Here, we used tetrode recordings in tethered flying monarch butterflies to unravel how a goal direction is represented in the insect brain. While recording, the butterflies maintained robust goal directions relative to a virtual sun. By resetting their goal directions, we found neurons whose spatial tuning was tightly linked to the goal directions. Importantly, their tuning was unaffected when the butterflies changed their heading after compass perturbations, showing that these neurons specifically encode the goal direction. Overall, we here discovered invertebrate goal-direction neurons that share functional similarities to goal-direction cells reported in mammals. Our results give insights into the evolutionarily conserved principles of goal-directed spatial orientation in animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Jerome Beetz
- Zoology II, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Christian Kraus
- Zoology II, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Basil El Jundi
- Zoology II, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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Abstract
Using functional imaging and neural circuit reconstructions, a recent study reveals head direction neurons in the anterior hindbrain of zebrafish that resemble insect head-direction cells to a surprising degree.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stanley Heinze
- Lund University, Lund Vision Group and NanoLund, Lund, Sweden.
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