Visual place learning in drosophila melanogaster

ABSTRACT The ability of insects to learn and navigate to specific locations in the environment has fascinated naturalists for decades. The impressive navigational abilities of ants, bees,

wasps and other insects demonstrate that insects are capable of visual place learning1,2,3,4, but little is known about the underlying neural circuits that mediate these behaviours.

_Drosophila melanogaster_ (common fruit fly) is a powerful model organism for dissecting the neural circuitry underlying complex behaviours, from sensory perception to learning and memory.

_Drosophila_ can identify and remember visual features such as size, colour and contour orientation5,6. However, the extent to which they use vision to recall specific locations remains

unclear. Here we describe a visual place learning platform and demonstrate that _Drosophila_ are capable of forming and retaining visual place memories to guide selective navigation. By

targeted genetic silencing of small subsets of cells in the _Drosophila_ brain, we show that neurons in the ellipsoid body, but not in the mushroom bodies, are necessary for visual place

learning. Together, these studies reveal distinct neuroanatomical substrates for spatial versus non-spatial learning, and establish _Drosophila_ as a powerful model for the study of spatial

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support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS GENETIC ATLAS OF HYGRO-AND THERMOSENSORY CELLS IN THE VINEGAR FLY _DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER_ Article Open access 14 September 2023

CONNECTOME-DRIVEN NEURAL INVENTORY OF A COMPLETE VISUAL SYSTEM Article Open access 26 March 2025 ETHANOL-GUIDED BEHAVIOR IN _DROSOPHILA_ LARVAE Article Open access 10 June 2021 REFERENCES *

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  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We particularly thank M. Gallio for help with thermosensation and the development of temperature behavioural tests. We also thank G.

Rubin for providing _GAL4_ lines before publication, A. Jenett for their anatomical annotation and M. Dickinson for discussions and advice. Brain images were provided by the Janelia Fly

Light Project. T. Laverty and the Janelia Fly Core assisted with _Drosophila_ maintenance. Additional support was provided by J. Osborne, C. Werner, D. Olbris and M. Bolstad. We also thank

V. Jayaraman, members of the Reiser and Zuker labs, Janelia Farm colleagues and the Janelia Fly Olympiad Project. This project was supported through the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus

visitor programmed (T.A.O. and C.S.Z., hosted by M.B.R.). C.S.Z. is a HHMI investigator and a Senior Fellow at Janelia Farm. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Janelia Farm

Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, Virginia 20147, USA , Tyler A. Ofstad, Charles S. Zuker & Michael B. Reiser * Department of Neurosciences,

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0649, California, USA Tyler A. Ofstad & Charles S. Zuker * Department of Neurobiology, Howard

Hughes Medical Institute, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0649, California, USA Charles S. Zuker * Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Howard Hughes

Medical Institute, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, 10032, New York, USA Charles S. Zuker * Department of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical

Institute, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, 10032, New York, USA Charles S. Zuker Authors * Tyler A. Ofstad View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Charles S. Zuker View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Michael B. Reiser View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS All authors designed the study and wrote the manuscript. T.A.O. carried out the experiments and data

analysis. CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Charles S. Zuker or Michael B. Reiser. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The file contains Supplementary Figures 1-8 with legends and Supplementary Movie legends. (PDF 5727 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY MOVIE 1 The movie

shows a typical trial of place learning in the thermal visual arena (see Supplementary Information file for full legend). (MOV 10627 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY MOVIE 2 The movie shows a typical probe

trial following training with a coupled visual panorama (see Supplementary Information file for full legend). (MOV 3707 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY MOVIE 3 This movie shows a typical probe trail

following training with an uncoupled visual panorama (see Supplementary Information file for full legend). (MOV 3414 kb) POWERPOINT SLIDES POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 1 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR

FIG. 2 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 3 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 4 RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Ofstad, T., Zuker, C. & Reiser, M.

Visual place learning in _Drosophila melanogaster_. _Nature_ 474, 204–207 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10131 Download citation * Received: 28 October 2010 * Accepted: 14 April 2011

* Published: 08 June 2011 * Issue Date: 09 June 2011 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10131 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

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