@article {65598, title = {A neural representation of naturalistic motion-guided behavior in the zebrafish brain.}, journal = {Current Biology}, volume = {30}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Jun 22}, pages = {2321-33}, abstract = {

All animals must transform ambiguous sensory data into successful behavior. This requires sensory representations that accurately reflect the statistics of natural stimuli and behavior. Multiple studies show that visual motion processing is tuned for accuracy under naturalistic conditions, but the sensorimotor circuits extracting these cues and implementing motion-guided behavior remain unclear. Here we show that the larval zebrafish retina extracts a diversity of naturalistic motion cues, and the retinorecipient pretectum organizes these cues around the elements of behavior. We find that higher-order motion stimuli, gliders, induce optomotor behavior matching expectations from natural scene analyses. We then image activity of retinal ganglion cell terminals and pretectal neurons. The retina exhibits direction-selective responses across glider stimuli, and anatomically clustered pretectal neurons respond with magnitudes matching behavior. Peripheral computations thus reflect natural input statistics, whereas central brain activity precisely codes information needed for behavior. This general principle could organize sensorimotor transformations across animal species.

}, issn = {1879-0445}, doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.043}, author = {Yildizoglu, Tugce and Riegler, Clemens and Fitzgerald, James E and Portugues, Ruben} } @article {49060, title = {A robotic multidimensional directed evolution approach applied to fluorescent voltage reporters.}, journal = {Nature Chemical Biology}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Feb 26}, abstract = {

We developed a new way to engineer complex proteins toward multidimensional specifications using a simple, yet scalable, directed evolution strategy. By robotically picking mammalian cells that were identified, under a microscope, as expressing proteins that simultaneously exhibit several specific properties, we can screen hundreds of thousands of proteins in a library in just a few hours, evaluating each along multiple performance axes. To demonstrate the power of this approach, we created\ a genetically encoded fluorescent voltage indicator, simultaneously optimizing its\ brightness and membrane localization using our microscopy-guided cell-picking strategy. We produced the high-performance opsin-based fluorescent voltage reporter Archon1 and demonstrated its utility by imaging spiking and millivolt-scale subthreshold and synaptic activity in acute mouse brain slices and in larval zebrafish in vivo. We also measured postsynaptic responses downstream of optogenetically controlled neurons in C. elegans.

}, issn = {1552-4469}, doi = {10.1038/s41589-018-0004-9}, author = {Piatkevich, Kiryl D and Jung, Erica E and Straub, Christoph and Linghu, Changyang and Park, Demian and Suk, Ho-Jun and Hochbaum, Daniel R and Goodwin, Daniel and Pnevmatikakis, Eftychios and Pak, Nikita and Kawashima, Takashi and Yang, Chao-Tsung and Rhoades, Jeffrey L and Shemesh, Or and Asano, Shoh and Yoon, Young-Gyu and Freifeld, Limor and Saulnier, Jessica L and Riegler, Clemens and Engert, Florian and Hughes, Thom and Drobizhev, Mikhail and Szabo, Balint and Ahrens, Misha B and Flavell, Steven W and Sabatini, Bernardo L and Boyden, Edward S} } @article {47283, title = {Neural circuits underlying visually evoked escapes in larval zebrafish.}, journal = {Neuron}, volume = {89}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Feb 3}, pages = {613-628}, abstract = {

Escape behaviors deliver organisms away from imminent catastrophe. Here, we characterize behavioral responses of freely swimming larval zebrafish to\ looming visual stimuli simulating predators. We report that the visual system alone can recruit lateralized, rapid escape motor programs, similar to those elicited by mechanosensory modalities. Two-photon calcium imaging of retino-recipient midbrain regions isolated the optic tectum as an important center processing looming stimuli, with ensemble activity encoding the critical image size determining escape latency. Furthermore, we describe activity in retinal ganglion cell terminals and superficial inhibitory interneurons in the tectum during looming and propose a model for how temporal dynamics in tectal\ periventricular neurons might arise from computations between these two fundamental constituents. Finally, laser ablations of hindbrain circuitry confirmed that visual and mechanosensory modalities share the same premotor output network. We\ establish a circuit for the processing of aversive stimuli in the context of an innate visual behavior.

}, issn = {1097-4199}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuron.2015.12.021}, author = {Dunn, Timothy W and Gebhardt, Christoph and Naumann, Eva A and Riegler, Clemens and Ahrens, Misha B and Engert, Florian and Del Bene, Filippo} } @article {48388, title = {Whole-brain activity mapping onto a zebrafish brain atlas.}, journal = {Nature methods}, volume = {12}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Nov}, pages = {1039-46}, abstract = {

In order to localize the neural circuits involved in generating behaviors, it is necessary to assign activity onto anatomical maps of the nervous system. Using brain registration across hundreds of larval zebrafish, we have built an expandable open-source atlas containing molecular labels and definitions of anatomical regions, the Z-Brain. Using this platform and immunohistochemical detection of phosphorylated extracellular signal{\textendash}regulated kinase (ERK) as a readout of neural activity, we have developed a system to create and contextualize whole-brain maps of stimulus- and behavior-dependent neural activity. This mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP)-mapping assay is technically simple, and data analysis is completely automated. Because MAP-mapping is performed on freely swimming fish, it is applicable to studies of nearly any stimulus or behavior. Here we demonstrate our high-throughput approach using pharmacological, visual and noxious stimuli, as well as hunting and feeding. The resultant maps outline hundreds of areas associated with behaviors.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Animals, Automation, Behavior, Animal, Brain, Brain Mapping, Calcium, Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Immunohistochemistry, Microscopy, Confocal, Neurites, Neurons, Phosphorylation, Principal Component Analysis, Reproducibility of Results, Software, Swimming, Zebrafish}, issn = {1548-7105}, doi = {10.1038/nmeth.3581}, author = {Randlett, Owen and Wee, Caroline L and Naumann, Eva A and Nnaemeka, Onyeka and Schoppik, David and Fitzgerald, James E and Portugues, Ruben and Lacoste, Alix M B and Riegler, Clemens and Engert, Florian and Schier, Alexander F} }