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The Function and Organization of the Motor System Controlling Flight Maneuvers in Flies
- Source :
- Current biology : CB. 27(3)
- Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Animals face the daunting task of controlling their limbs using a small set of highly constrained actuators. This problem is particularly demanding for insects such as Drosophila, which must adjust wing motion for both quick voluntary maneuvers and slow compensatory reflexes using only a dozen pairs of muscles. To identify strategies by which animals execute precise actions using sparse motor networks, we imaged the activity of a complete ensemble of wing control muscles in intact, flying flies. Our experiments uncovered a remarkably efficient logic in which each of the four skeletal elements at the base of the wing are equipped with both large phasically active muscles capable of executing large changes and smaller tonically active muscles specialized for continuous fine-scaled adjustments. Based on the responses to a broad panel of visual motion stimuli, we have developed a model by which the motor array regulates aerodynamically functional features of wing motion. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Functional features
media_common.quotation_subject
Biology
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
03 medical and health sciences
Motion
0302 clinical medicine
Control theory
Motor system
Animals
Wings, Animal
Function (engineering)
media_common
Wing
Muscles
Motor control
Visual motion
Biomechanical Phenomena
030104 developmental biology
Flight, Animal
Calcium
Drosophila
Female
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Actuator
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18790445
- Volume :
- 27
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Current biology : CB
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....55189101d7ca139e5e9872311b6e23d4