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ON and OFF pathways in Drosophila motion vision

Author

Listed:
  • Maximilian Joesch

    (MPI for Neurobiology, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany)

  • Bettina Schnell

    (MPI for Neurobiology, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany)

  • Shamprasad Varija Raghu

    (MPI for Neurobiology, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany)

  • Dierk F. Reiff

    (MPI for Neurobiology, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany)

  • Alexander Borst

    (MPI for Neurobiology, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany)

Abstract

Vertebrates and insects see eye-to-eye Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Ramón y Cajal, the founding father of neuroscience, observed similarities between the vertebrate retina and the insect eye. His conclusions were based purely on anatomy. Now, using state-of-the-art genetics and electrophysiology, Alexander Borst and colleagues confirm the similarity between vertebrate and insect retinal circuitry, this time at the functional level. They have distinguished motion-sensitive neurons responding to abrupt increases in light (ON-neurons), from those specific for light decrements (OFF-neurons), in the fruitfly Drosophila. Clearly, the selection pressure for efficient motion detection through variations in light intensity has generated similar circuitries in these evolutionarily distant species.

Suggested Citation

  • Maximilian Joesch & Bettina Schnell & Shamprasad Varija Raghu & Dierk F. Reiff & Alexander Borst, 2010. "ON and OFF pathways in Drosophila motion vision," Nature, Nature, vol. 468(7321), pages 300-304, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:468:y:2010:i:7321:d:10.1038_nature09545
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09545
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    Cited by:

    1. Shuman Huang & Xiaoke Niu & Zhizhong Wang & Gang Liu & Li Shi, 2023. "A Moving Target Detection Model Inspired by Spatio-Temporal Information Accumulation of Avian Tectal Neurons," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Kit D. Longden & Edward M. Rogers & Aljoscha Nern & Heather Dionne & Michael B. Reiser, 2023. "Different spectral sensitivities of ON- and OFF-motion pathways enhance the detection of approaching color objects in Drosophila," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Andrea Censi & Andrew D Straw & Rosalyn W Sayaman & Richard M Murray & Michael H Dickinson, 2013. "Discriminating External and Internal Causes for Heading Changes in Freely Flying Drosophila," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-14, February.

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