Abstract
The way information is represented by sequences of action potentials of spiking neurons is determined by the input each neuron receives, but also by its biophysics, and the specifics of the circuit in which it is embedded. Even the “code” of identified neurons can vary considerably from individual to individual. Here we compared the neural codes of the identified H1 neuron in the visual systems of two families of flies, blow flies and flesh flies, and explored the effect of the sensory environment that the flies were exposed to during development on the H1 code. We found that the two families differed considerably in the temporal structure of the code, its content and energetic efficiency, as well as the temporal delay of neural response. The differences in the environmental conditions during the flies' development had no significant effect. Our results may thus reflect an instance of a family-specific design of the neural code. They may also suggest that individual variability in information processing by this specific neuron, in terms of both form and content, is regulated genetically.
Highlights
The nervous system relies on a nearly universal ‘‘alphabet’’: most neurons, in different brain modules and in many different species, use sequences of electrical spikes to represent and transmit information [1]
To estimate the effect of the environment on the neural code we further studied two other groups of flesh flies, which were bred under different visual environments: one group was bred outdoors in a transparent cage (Fig. 1B, group F2), and the other (F3) was bred outside but in an opaque cage, which exposed the flies to similar natural light intensities, but no details of the natural environment
We showed that the neural code of an identified neuron that encodes similar visual properties in two fly families differs considerably
Summary
The nervous system relies on a nearly universal ‘‘alphabet’’: most neurons, in different brain modules and in many different species, use sequences of electrical spikes to represent and transmit information [1]. The similarity in anatomical and functional organization of the nervous system in different individuals reflects the universal properties of brain design and function It is unclear how different the corresponding brain modules of two animals are, or how they differ in terms of the computations they perform. We expect that differences (or similarities) that are informative about the ‘‘conserved’’ and idiosyncratic parts of the neural code could have a functional relation to behavioral differences between individuals, species, or families. To conduct such analyses, we need a quantitative framework in which to explore neural code variability, which could be related to behavioral variability
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