Descending networks transform command signals into population motor control

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Braun, Jonas; Hurtak, Femke; Wang-Chen, Sibo; Ramdya, Pavan
• 署名单位: Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne; Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-5909
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07523-9
• 发表日期: 2024-06-20
• 页码: 686-+
• 关键词: neuronal control; walking; brain; BEHAVIOR; primitives; distinct; SYSTEM; driven; motion; flight

摘要

To convert intentions into actions, movement instructions must pass from the brain to downstream motor circuits through descending neurons (DNs). These include small sets of command-like neurons that are sufficient to drive behaviours(1)-the circuit mechanisms for which remain unclear. Here we show that command-like DNs in Drosophila directly recruit networks of additional DNs to orchestrate behaviours that require the active control of numerous body parts. Specifically, we found that command-like DNs previously thought to drive behaviours alone(2-4) in fact co-activate larger populations of DNs. Connectome analyses and experimental manipulations revealed that this functional recruitment can be explained by direct excitatory connections between command-like DNs and networks of interconnected DNs in the brain. Descending population recruitment is necessary for behavioural control: DNs with many downstream descending partners require network co-activation to drive complete behaviours and drive only simple stereotyped movements in their absence. These DN networks reside within behaviour-specific clusters that inhibit one another. These results support a mechanism for command-like descending control in which behaviours are generated through the recruitment of increasingly large DN networks that compose behaviours by combining multiple motor subroutines.