High Behavioral Variability Mediated by Altered Neuronal Excitability in auts2 Mutant Zebrafish

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by abnormal behavioral traits arising from neural circuit dysfunction. While a number of genes have been implicated in ASDs, in most cases, a clear understanding of how mutations in these genes lead to circuit dysfunction and behavioral abnormality is absent. The autism susceptibility candidate 2 (AUTS2) gene is one such gene, associated with ASDs, intellectual disability and a range of other neurodevelopmental conditions. However, the role of AUTS2 in neural development and circuit function is not at all known. Here, we undertook functional analysis of Auts2a, the main homolog of AUTS2 in zebrafish, in the context of the escape behavior. Escape behavior in wild-type zebrafish is critical for survival and is therefore, reliable, rapid, and has well-defined kinematic properties. auts2a mutant zebrafish are viable, have normal gross morphology and can generate escape behavior with normal kinematics. However, the behavior is unreliable and delayed, with high trial-to-trial variability in the latency. Using calcium imaging we probed the activity of Mauthner neurons during otic vesicle (OV) stimulation and observed lower probability of activation and reduced calcium transients in the mutants. With direct activation of Mauthner by antidromic stimulation, the threshold for activation in mutants was higher than that in wild-type, even when inhibition was blocked. Taken together, these results point to reduced excitability of Mauthner neurons in auts2a mutant larvae leading to unreliable escape responses. Our results show a novel role for Auts2a in regulating neural excitability and reliability of behavior.