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The evolutionary trajectory of drosophilid walking
Ryan A York1, Luke E Brezovec1, Jenn Coughlan2
1Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Current Biology : CB
|June 7, 2022
Summary
Fruit fly walking evolved rapidly, with specific movements changing quickly across species. This modular evolution of locomotion supports both precise individual actions and broad species variation.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Neuroscience
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Neural circuits underpin individual behaviors and species-specific variations.
- Understanding behavioral evolution requires large-scale phylogenetic comparisons.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolutionary patterns of walking behavior in drosophilid flies.
- To determine how neural circuits support both conserved and rapidly evolving aspects of locomotion.
Main Methods:
- High-resolution, unconstrained movement capture of 13 fruit fly species and 15 strains.
- Analysis of movement within a universal behavior space.
- Phylogenetic comparisons and meta-analysis of behavioral evolution rates.
Main Results:
- Walking behavior fits into an evolutionarily conserved universal behavior space.
- Specific movement occurrences and transitions evolved rapidly across species.
- Convergent evolution was observed in the temporal structure of locomotion.
- Behaviors, particularly locomotion, evolve more rapidly than many other traits.
Conclusions:
- Locomotor circuit architecture supports precise movements and rapid evolutionary changes in their temporal sequencing.
- Modular evolution of behavior allows for both conserved functions and rapid adaptation across species.
