Predation without direction selectivity

Predation without direction selectivity

Across the animal kingdom, visual predation relies on motion-sensing neurons in the superior colliculus (SC) and its orthologs. These neurons exhibit complex stimulus preferences, including direction selectivity, which is thought to be critical for tracking the unpredictable escape routes of prey. T...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 121; no. 12; p. e2317218121
Main Authors: Krizan, Jenna, Song, Xiayingfang, Fitzpatrick, Michael J, Shen, Ning, Soto, Florentina, Kerschensteiner, Daniel
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 19-03-2024
Subjects:
Animals
Edge effect
Mice
Motion detection
Multiplexing
Neuroethology
Neurons
Neurons - physiology
Opto-kinetics
Optokinetic response
Predation
Predatory Behavior
Retina
Retinal ganglion cells
Selectivity
Superior Colliculi - physiology
Superior colliculus
Visual Pathways - physiology
narrow-field cells
ganglion cells
retina
superior colliculus
direction-selective
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Across the animal kingdom, visual predation relies on motion-sensing neurons in the superior colliculus (SC) and its orthologs. These neurons exhibit complex stimulus preferences, including direction selectivity, which is thought to be critical for tracking the unpredictable escape routes of prey. The source of direction selectivity in the SC is contested, and its contributions to predation have not been tested experimentally. Here, we use type-specific cell removal to show that narrow-field (NF) neurons in the mouse SC guide predation. In vivo recordings demonstrate that direction-selective responses of NF cells are independent of recently reported stimulus-edge effects. Monosynaptic retrograde tracing reveals that NF cells receive synaptic input from direction-selective ganglion cells. When we eliminate direction selectivity in the retina of adult mice, direction-selective responses in the SC, including in NF cells, are lost. However, eliminating retinal direction selectivity does not affect the hunting success or strategies of mice, even when direction selectivity is removed after mice have learned to hunt, and despite abolishing the gaze-stabilizing optokinetic reflex. Thus, our results identify the retinal source of direction selectivity in the SC. They show that NF cells in the SC guide predation, an essential spatial orienting task, independent of their direction selectivity, revealing behavioral multiplexing of complex neural feature preferences and highlighting the importance of feature-selective manipulations for neuroethology.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2317218121