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Updated: May 8, 2026
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Optogenetic Stimulation of Escape Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: January 25, 2013
Optogenetic control of fly optomotor responses
Väinö Haikala1, Maximilian Joesch, Alexander Borst
1Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany.
Summary
Researchers used optogenetics to activate horizontal system (HS) cells in fruit flies, demonstrating their crucial role in controlling the optomotor response, a behavior essential for flight navigation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Biology
- Optogenetics
Background:
- The optomotor response is a crucial visual behavior in flies, enabling them to stabilize their flight and navigate.
- Horizontal system (HS) cells in the fly's lobula plate are hypothesized to be key neural components controlling this response.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the specific behavioral role of HS cells in Drosophila.
- To use optogenetics to selectively activate HS cells and observe their effect on behavior.
Main Methods:
- Utilized optogenetics with a bistable channelrhodopsin variant (ChR2-C128S) to minimize interference with visual perception.
- Electrophysiologically confirmed repeated, stable activation and deactivation of lobula plate tangential cells using blue and yellow light pulses.
- Observed behavioral responses in fixed and tethered flying flies upon selective optogenetic activation of HS cells.
Main Results:
- Optogenetic stimulation successfully activated HS cells repeatedly without loss of depolarization strength.
- Selective activation of HS cells induced significant yaw head movements in fixed flies.
- Tethered flying flies exhibited robust yaw turning responses when HS cells were optogenetically stimulated.
Conclusions:
- HS cells are directly involved in generating the behavioral output of the optomotor response.
- Optogenetic activation of HS cells provides a powerful tool to study neural control of visually guided behaviors in flies.
