Abstract
The regulation of feeding plays a key role in determining the fitness of animals through its impact on nutrition. Elucidating the circuit basis of feeding and related behaviors is an important goal in neuroscience. We recently used a system for closed-loop optogenetic manipulation of neurons contingent on the feeding behavior of Drosophila to dissect the impact of a specific subset of taste neurons on yeast feeding. Here, we describe the development and validation of this system, which we term the optoPAD. We use the optoPAD to induce appetitive and aversive effects on feeding by activating or inhibiting gustatory neurons in closed-loop - effectively creating virtual taste realities. The use of optogenetics allowed us to vary the dynamics and probability of stimulation in single flies and assess the impact on feeding behavior quantitatively and with high throughput. These data demonstrate that the optoPAD is a powerful tool to dissect the circuit basis of feeding behavior, allowing the efficient implementation of sophisticated behavioral paradigms to study the mechanistic basis of animals' adaptation to dynamic environments.
Highlights
The ability to experimentally manipulate the activity of neurons with cellular resolution has revolutionized our understanding of how circuits generate behavior (Luo et al, 2018)
To allow for optogenetic manipulation of neurons, we designed an LED board housing a high-power multicolor LED, as well as metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) gates and current limiting resistors, that fits on top of the flyPAD arenas (Figure 1B)
The Arduino Mega runs a standard Firmata software, allowing it to function as a digital general-purpose input/output (GPIO) board from within the Bonsai environment
Summary
The ability to experimentally manipulate the activity of neurons with cellular resolution has revolutionized our understanding of how circuits generate behavior (Luo et al, 2018). While most methods for analyzing behavior quantitatively rely on video recordings, alternative methods play important roles in neuroscience research (Davis, 1973; McLean and Kinsey, 1964) Such approaches have become especially important to study feeding in Drosophila melanogaster (Murphy et al, 2017; Ro et al, 2014; Yapici et al, 2016). We describe the design and implementation of such a high-throughput system allowing optogenetic manipulation of neurons in Drosophila contingent on the feeding behavior of the fly: the optoPAD. These additions significantly extend the toolset available to study complex behaviors in high throughput in Drosophila
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