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Ring attractor dynamics in the Drosophila central brain.

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Science (New York, N.Y.). 2017 May 04;356(6340):849-53. doi: 10.1126/science.aal4835
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Ring attractor dynamics in the Drosophila central brain. Druckmann LabJayaraman LabRomani Lab
Kim SS, Rouault H, Druckmann S, Jayaraman V
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Abstract

Ring attractors are a class of recurrent networks hypothesized to underlie the representation of heading direction. Such network structures, schematized as a ring of neurons whose connectivity depends on their heading preferences, can sustain a bump-like activity pattern whose location can be updated by continuous shifts along either turn direction. We recently reported that a population of fly neurons represents the animal's heading via bump-like activity dynamics. We combined two-photon calcium imaging in head-fixed flying flies with optogenetics to overwrite the existing population representation with an artificial one, which was then maintained by the circuit with naturalistic dynamics. A network with local excitation and global inhibition enforces this unique and persistent heading representation. Ring attractor networks have long been invoked in theoretical work; our study provides physiological evidence of their existence and functional architecture.

PMID: 28473639 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Janelia Authors

Shaul Druckmann
Vivek Jayaraman
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