Transforming a head direction signal into a goal-oriented steering command

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Westeinde, Elena A.; Kellogg, Emily; Dawson, Paul M.; Lu, Jenny; Hamburg, Lydia; Midler, Benjamin; Druckmann, Shaul; Wilson, Rachel I.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Harvard Medical School; Stanford University; Stanford University
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-4203
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07039-2
• 发表日期: 2024-02-22
• 关键词: path-integration; orientation; REPRESENTATION; DYNAMICS; patterns; motion; MODEL

摘要

To navigate, we must continuously estimate the direction we are headed in, and we must correct deviations from our goal1. Direction estimation is accomplished by ring attractor networks in the head direction system2,3. However, we do not fully understand how the sense of direction is used to guide action. Drosophila connectome analyses4,5 reveal three cell populations (PFL3R, PFL3L and PFL2) that connect the head direction system to the locomotor system. Here we use imaging, electrophysiology and chemogenetic stimulation during navigation to show how these populations function. Each population receives a shifted copy of the head direction vector, such that their three reference frames are shifted approximately 120 degrees relative to each other. Each cell type then compares its own head direction vector with a common goal vector; specifically, it evaluates the congruence of these vectors via a nonlinear transformation. The output of all three cell populations is then combined to generate locomotor commands. PFL3R cells are recruited when the fly is oriented to the left of its goal, and their activity drives rightward turning; the reverse is true for PFL3L. Meanwhile, PFL2 cells increase steering speed, and are recruited when the fly is oriented far from its goal. PFL2 cells adaptively increase the strength of steering as directional error increases, effectively managing the tradeoff between speed and accuracy. Together, our results show how a map of space in the brain can be combined with an internal goal to generate action commands, via a transformation from world-centric coordinates to body-centric coordinates. Here we show how PFL2 and PFL3 neurons in the Drosophila brain compare a representation of direction with internal spatial goals, both anchored in world-centric coordinates, and produce body-centric steering commands that act to correct deviations from the goal direction.