美国霍华德休斯医学院Gerald M.Rubin团队研究发现，果蝇的社会状态通过三种回路机制改变视觉。相关论文于2024年11月20日发表在《自然》杂志上。

据悉，动物经常受到视觉信息的轰炸，它们会根据当前的需求优先考虑特定的视觉特征。检测和传递视觉特征的神经元回路已经得到了很好的研究。对于动物如何随着目标或环境条件的变化，而调整其视觉注意力则所知甚少。在社会行为中，蝇类需要将它们的焦点对准附近的蝇类。

研究小组研究了当雌性果蝇进入攻击状态时，视觉信息流是如何改变的。从连接组中，研究团队确定了三种状态依赖的回路基序，它们准备改变攻击性雌性对蝇类大小的视觉物体的反应——来自神经元的兴奋性输入的汇集，传递选择的视觉特征和内部状态；选择视觉特征检测器的树突去抑制，还有一个在两个视觉特征检测器之间切换的开关。

利用细胞类型特异性遗传工具，结合行为和神经生理学分析，研究人员揭示了，在雌性攻击期间，这些回路基序中的每一个都是如何被使用的。

研究人员发现，在雄性果蝇追求配偶的过程中，同样的开关的特征也在运行，这表明不同的社会行为可能共享回路机制。他们的研究提供了一个引人注目的例子，说明了如何利用连接组学，来推断感觉信号动态处理背后的回路机制。

附：英文原文

Title: Social state alters vision using three circuit mechanisms in Drosophila

Author: Schretter, Catherine E., Hindmarsh Sten, Tom, Klapoetke, Nathan, Shao, Mei, Nern, Aljoscha, Dreher, Marisa, Bushey, Daniel, Robie, Alice A., Taylor, Adam L., Branson, Kristin, Otopalik, Adriane, Ruta, Vanessa, Rubin, Gerald M.

Issue&Volume: 2024-11-20

Abstract: Animals are often bombarded with visual information and must prioritize specific visual features based on their current needs. The neuronal circuits that detect and relay visual features have been well studied1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Much less is known about how an animal adjusts its visual attention as its goals or environmental conditions change. During social behaviours, flies need to focus on nearby flies9,10,11. Here we study how the flow of visual information is altered when female Drosophila enter an aggressive state. From the connectome, we identify three state-dependent circuit motifs poised to modify the response of an aggressive female to fly-sized visual objects: convergence of excitatory inputs from neurons conveying select visual features and internal state; dendritic disinhibition of select visual feature detectors; and a switch that toggles between two visual feature detectors. Using cell-type-specific genetic tools, together with behavioural and neurophysiological analyses, we show that each of these circuit motifs is used during female aggression. We reveal that features of this same switch operate in male Drosophila during courtship pursuit, suggesting that disparate social behaviours may share circuit mechanisms. Our study provides a compelling example of using the connectome to infer circuit mechanisms that underlie dynamic processing of sensory signals.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08255-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08255-6