Sensorimotor computation underlying phototaxis in zebrafish

Sébastien Wolf, Alexis M. Dubreuil, Tommaso Bertoni, Urs Lucas Böhm, Volker Bormuth, Raphaël Candelier, Sophia Karpenko, David G. C. Hildebrand, Isaac H. Bianco, Rémi Monasson and Georges Debrégeas ()
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Sébastien Wolf: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 8237, Laboratoire Jean Perrin
Alexis M. Dubreuil: PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universités UPMC
Tommaso Bertoni: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 8237, Laboratoire Jean Perrin
Urs Lucas Böhm: Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière
Volker Bormuth: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 8237, Laboratoire Jean Perrin
Raphaël Candelier: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 8237, Laboratoire Jean Perrin
Sophia Karpenko: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 8237, Laboratoire Jean Perrin
David G. C. Hildebrand: Harvard Medical School
Isaac H. Bianco: University College London
Rémi Monasson: PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universités UPMC
Georges Debrégeas: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 8237, Laboratoire Jean Perrin

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Animals continuously gather sensory cues to move towards favourable environments. Efficient goal-directed navigation requires sensory perception and motor commands to be intertwined in a feedback loop, yet the neural substrate underlying this sensorimotor task in the vertebrate brain remains elusive. Here, we combine virtual-reality behavioural assays, volumetric calcium imaging, optogenetic stimulation and circuit modelling to reveal the neural mechanisms through which a zebrafish performs phototaxis, i.e. actively orients towards a light source. Key to this process is a self-oscillating hindbrain population (HBO) that acts as a pacemaker for ocular saccades and controls the orientation of successive swim-bouts. It further integrates visual stimuli in a state-dependent manner, i.e. its response to visual inputs varies with the motor context, a mechanism that manifests itself in the phase-locked entrainment of the HBO by periodic stimuli. A rate model is developed that reproduces our observations and demonstrates how this sensorimotor processing eventually biases the animal trajectory towards bright regions.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00310-3

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