Neuromuscular embodiment of feedback control elements in Drosophila flight

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bioRxiv. 2022 Mar 07;. doi: 10.1101/2022.02.22.481344

Neuromuscular embodiment of feedback control elements in Drosophila flight Stern Lab

Whitehead Samuel, Leone Sofia, Lindsay Theodore, Meiselman Matthew, Cowan Noah, Dickinson Michael, Yapici Nilay, Stern David, Shirangi Troy, Cohen Itai

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Abstract

While insects like Drosophila are flying, aerodynamic instabilities require that they make millisecond-timescale adjustments to their wing motion to stay aloft and on course. These stabilization reflexes can be modeled as a proportional-integral (PI) controller; however, it is unclear how such control might be instantiated in insects at the level of muscles and neurons. Here, we show that the b1 and b2 motor units—prominent components of the fly’s steering muscles system—modulate specific elements of the PI controller: the angular displacement (integral, I) and angular velocity (proportional, P), respectively. Moreover, these effects are observed only during the stabilization of pitch. Our results provide evidence for an organizational principle in which each muscle contributes to a specific functional role in flight control, a finding that highlights the power of using top-down behavioral modeling to guide bottom-up cellular manipulation studies.

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Neuromuscular embodiment of feedback control elements in Drosophila flight

Abstract

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