Movement is a fundamental aspect of behaving organisms, and essential for their survival. The characterization of neuronal circuits that control movements has challenged neuroscientists for several decades, and many of the underlying principles of motor control have been pioneered in circuits underlying locomotion. Across the different clades of animals, these locomotor circuits share many functional characteristics, and they are activated in a variety of behaviors, including spatial navigation, seeking food, mating, escaping, and responding to environmental stimuli. Their control typically involves different neuronal populations that are activated in a coordinated fashion across multiple regions of the nervous system.
While studies investigating mammalian locomotor circuits have adopted murine models as mammalian references and non-mammalian vertebrates such as fish and amphibians have identified locomotion circuits in the spinal cord, invertebrate models have spearheaded studying the coordinated activity and roles of individual neurons within locomotor circuits at appreciable resolution.
A more recent addition to locomotion studies is the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The fly has proved effective, in both adult and larval stages, as a potent, inexpensive, and easily accessible model organism for exploring and further investigating locomotion circuits and their control.
The Drosophila model has a short life span, a small genome, a nervous system with fewer cells and full connectome, and a high degree of genetic conservation across species for some cells. Genetic manipulation and network modulation can be more easily accomplished than in other models; this is supported in part by the wider availability of genetic tools to manipulate single neurons and the existence of electrophysiology protocols to validate genetic manipulations. The availability of behavioral screens, ad-hoc or permanent neuron silencing and activating, imaging, and connectivity tracing opens many new avenues to identify mechanisms of movement control that have so far been inaccessible.
The goal of this Research Topic is to address key aspects of what we learn from larval and adult Drosophila models to untangle the development and dynamics of locomotor circuits, aiming to gather circuit-level insights and move toward an in-depth understanding of motor system organization and function in both physiological and pathological contexts.
To this aim, we welcome all types of articles addressing the following, but not limited to, sub-topics:
• In vivo and in vitro genetic investigation methods and toolkits to study locomotor circuits development and function in the larval and adult Drosophila model
• Drosophila larval locomotor network studies – genetic interactions for motor neurons development and cross-species comparisons
• Electrophysiological, tracing, and imaging studies to illustrate neural connectivity
• Metamorphosis - guidance molecules function and circuits remodeling for adult functional locomotor circuit establishment
• Identification of larval locomotor circuits persisting in the adult stage
• Dysfunctional circuitry: mechanisms affecting adult Drosophila neuromuscular system and ultimately impacting locomotor-based behaviors
• Identification and characterization of upstream control circuits of locomotion, including navigation and other tasks.
Movement is a fundamental aspect of behaving organisms, and essential for their survival. The characterization of neuronal circuits that control movements has challenged neuroscientists for several decades, and many of the underlying principles of motor control have been pioneered in circuits underlying locomotion. Across the different clades of animals, these locomotor circuits share many functional characteristics, and they are activated in a variety of behaviors, including spatial navigation, seeking food, mating, escaping, and responding to environmental stimuli. Their control typically involves different neuronal populations that are activated in a coordinated fashion across multiple regions of the nervous system.
While studies investigating mammalian locomotor circuits have adopted murine models as mammalian references and non-mammalian vertebrates such as fish and amphibians have identified locomotion circuits in the spinal cord, invertebrate models have spearheaded studying the coordinated activity and roles of individual neurons within locomotor circuits at appreciable resolution.
A more recent addition to locomotion studies is the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The fly has proved effective, in both adult and larval stages, as a potent, inexpensive, and easily accessible model organism for exploring and further investigating locomotion circuits and their control.
The Drosophila model has a short life span, a small genome, a nervous system with fewer cells and full connectome, and a high degree of genetic conservation across species for some cells. Genetic manipulation and network modulation can be more easily accomplished than in other models; this is supported in part by the wider availability of genetic tools to manipulate single neurons and the existence of electrophysiology protocols to validate genetic manipulations. The availability of behavioral screens, ad-hoc or permanent neuron silencing and activating, imaging, and connectivity tracing opens many new avenues to identify mechanisms of movement control that have so far been inaccessible.
The goal of this Research Topic is to address key aspects of what we learn from larval and adult Drosophila models to untangle the development and dynamics of locomotor circuits, aiming to gather circuit-level insights and move toward an in-depth understanding of motor system organization and function in both physiological and pathological contexts.
To this aim, we welcome all types of articles addressing the following, but not limited to, sub-topics:
• In vivo and in vitro genetic investigation methods and toolkits to study locomotor circuits development and function in the larval and adult Drosophila model
• Drosophila larval locomotor network studies – genetic interactions for motor neurons development and cross-species comparisons
• Electrophysiological, tracing, and imaging studies to illustrate neural connectivity
• Metamorphosis - guidance molecules function and circuits remodeling for adult functional locomotor circuit establishment
• Identification of larval locomotor circuits persisting in the adult stage
• Dysfunctional circuitry: mechanisms affecting adult Drosophila neuromuscular system and ultimately impacting locomotor-based behaviors
• Identification and characterization of upstream control circuits of locomotion, including navigation and other tasks.
