Gap junctions arbitrate binocular course control in flies

Abstract

Animals utilize visual motion cues to maintain stability and navigate accurately. The optomotor response, a reflexive behavior for visual stabilization, has been used to study this visuomotor transformation. However, there is a disparity between the simplicity of this behavior and the intricate circuit components believed to govern it. Here we bridge this divide by exploring the course control repertoire in Drosophila and establishing a direct link between behavior and the underlying circuit motifs. Specifically, we demonstrate that visual motion information from both eyes plays a crucial role in movement control through bilateral interactions facilitated by gap junctions. These electrical interactions augment the classic stabilization behavior by inverting the response direction and the behavioral strategy. Our findings reveal how animals combine monocular motion cues to generate a variety of behaviors, determine the functional role of the circuit components, and show that gap junctions can mediate non-linear operations with a decisive role in animal behavior.