Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:51:44.995Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rearing in darkness changes visually-guided choice behavior in Drosophila

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Helmut V.B. Hirsch ,
Doreen Potter ,
Dariusz Zawierucha ,
Tanvir Choudhri ,
Adrian Glasser ,
Rodney K. Murphey  and
Duncan Byers
Helmut V.B. Hirsch
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Doreen Potter
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Dariusz Zawierucha
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Tanvir Choudhri
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Adrian Glasser
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Rodney K. Murphey
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Behavior Project, Morrell Science Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Duncan Byers
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To test whether visual experience can affect development of visual behavior in the fruitfly, Drosophila, we measured the visually-guided choice behavior of groups of flies reared in complete darkness, compared with controls reared in a normal light/dark cycle. We used a simple visual preference test, i.e. choice among four different visual targets each consisting of vertical black lines of a particular width on a white background, using a blind testing procedure so that the individual rearing histories were not known by the tester. Both groups of flies were strongly attracted to the vertical lines; however, generally the dark-reared flies were more attracted to the wider stimulus lines than were the control flies. Control experiments in which normally reared adults were kept for several days in darkness showed that the effects of dark-rearing were not simply due to being in darkness, but depended upon the timing of the deprivation. The results indicate that the development of visual behavior can be affected by visual experience in Drosophila and thus open the possibility of using Drosophila for genetic dissection of mechanisms of visual plasticity.

Keywords

Visual plasticityDrosophilaPattern visionVisual deprivationNeural development
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 281 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benzer, S. (1967). Behavioral mutants of Drosophila isolated by countercurrent distribution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 58, 1112–1119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloom, J.W. & Atwood, H.L. (1980). Effects of altered sensory experience on the responsiveness of the locust descending contralateral movement detector neuron. Journal of Comparative Physiology A135, 191–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, J.W. & Atwood, H.L. (1981). Reversible ultrastructural changes in the rhabdom of the locust eye are induced by long term light deprivation. Journal of Comparative Physiology A144, 357–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frégnac, Y. & Imbert, M. (1984). Development of neuronal selectivity in primary visual cortex of cat. Physiological Reviews 64, 325–434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heisenberg, M. & Wolf, R. (1984). Vision in Drosophila: Genetics of Microbehavior. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Hirsch, H.V.B. (1985). The tunable seer: activity-dependent development of vision. In Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology, Vol. 8, ed. Blass, E., pp. 237–295. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Hirsch, H.V.B. & Tieman, S.B. (1987). Perceptual development and experience-dependent changes in cat visual cortex. In Sensitive Periods in Development: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. Bornstein, M.H., pp. 39–79. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Keal, K. & Meinertzhagen, I.A. (1989). Anatomical plasticity of synapses in the lamina of the optic lobe of the fly. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (London) 323, 155–183.Google Scholar
Mahaffey, J.W., Coutu, M.D., Fyrberg, E.A. & Inwood, W. (1985). The flightless Drosophila mutant raised has two distinct genetic lesions affecting accumulation of myofibrillar proteins in flight muscles. Cell 40, 101–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mimura, K. (1986). Development of visual pattern discrimination in the fly depends on light experience. Science 232, 83–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mimura, K. (1987 a). Persistence and extinction of the effect of visual pattern deprivation in the fly. Experimental Biology 46, 155–162.Google Scholar
Mimura, K. (1987 b). The effect of partial covering of the eye on the results of selective deprivation of visual pattern in the fly. Brain Research 437, 97–102.Google Scholar
Mimura, K. (1988). Cytochrome oxidase histochemistry in the effect of light deprivation on the fly visual system. Brain Research 445, 228–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mimura, K. (1990). Developmental process of visual-pattern discrimination in the fly. Brain Research 512, 75–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Potter, D. (1989). Effects of dark-rearing on visual choice behavior of (rsd) Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Undergraduate Research 9, 78–91; College of Science and Mathematics, State University of New York at Albany.Google Scholar
Quinn, W.G., Sziber, P.P. & Booker, R. (1979). The Drosophila memory mutant amnesiac. Nature (London) 277, 212–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rybak, J. & Meinertzhagen, l.A. (1989). Dynamics of frequency and size changes in the photoreceptor synapses of the lamina of the fly's optic lobe. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 15, 1387.Google Scholar
Schmidt, J.T., Eisle, L.E., Turcotte, J.C. & Tieman, D.G. (1986). Selective stabilization of retinotectal synapses by activity dependent mechanism. In Adaptive Processes in Visual and Oculomotor Systems, ed. Keller, E.L. & Zee, D.S., pp. 63–70. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Sherman, S.M. & Spear, P.D. (1982). Organization of visual pathways in normal and visually deprived cats. Physiological Reviews 62, 738–855.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SPSS (1988). SPSS-X User's Guide, 3rd Edition. Chicago, Illinois: SPSS, Inc.Google Scholar
Tully, T. & Gergen, J.P. (1986). Deletion mapping of the Drosophila memory mutant amnesiac. Journal of Neurogenetics 3, 33–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wehner, R. (1972). Spontaneous pattern preferences of Drosophila melanogaster to black areas in various parts of the visual field. Journal of Insect Physiology 18, 1531–1543.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wehner, R. (1981). Spatial vision in arthropods. In Handbook of Sensory Physiology: Vision in Invertebrates, Vol. VII/6C: Invertebrate Visual Centers and Behavior, II, ed. Autrum, H. pp. 287–616. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Wehner, R. & Horn, E. (1975). The effect of object distance on pattern preferences in the walking fly (Drosophila melanogaster). Experientia 31, 641–643.Google Scholar