High-resolution analysis of individual Drosophila melanogaster larvae uncovers individual variability in locomotion and its neurogenetic modulation

Neuronally orchestrated muscular movement and locomotion are defining faculties of multicellular animals. Due to its simple brain and genetic accessibility, the larva of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster allows one to study these processes at tractable levels of complexity. However, although the faculty of locomotion clearly pertains to the individual, most studies of locomotion in larvae use measurements aggregated across animals, or animals tested one by one, an extravagance for larger-scale analyses. This prevents grasping the inter- and intra-individual variability in locomotion and its neurogenetic determinants. Here, we present the IMBA (individual maggot behaviour analyser) for analysing the behaviour of individual larvae within groups, reliably resolving individual identity across collisions. We use the IMBA to systematically describe the inter- and intra-individual variability in locomotion of wild-type animals, and how the variability is reduced by associative learning. We then report a novel locomotion phenotype of an adhesion GPCR mutant. We further investigated the modulation of locomotion across repeated activations of dopamine neurons in individual animals, and the transient backward locomotion induced by brief optogenetic activation of the brain-descending ‘mooncrawler’ neurons. In summary, the IMBA is an easy-to-use toolbox allowing an unprecedentedly rich view of the behaviour and its variability of individual larvae, with utility in multiple biomedical research contexts

Data stewardship and research data management tools for multimodal linking of imaging data in plasma medicine

<p>A more detailed understanding of the effect of plasmas on biological systems can be fostered by combining data from different imaging modalities, such as optical imaging, fluorescence imaging, and mass spectrometry imaging. This, however, requires the implementation and use of sophisticated research data management (RDM) solutions to incorporate the influence of plasma parameters and treatment procedures as well as the effects of plasma on the treated targets. In order to address this, RDM activities on different levels and from different perspectives are started and brought together within the framework of the NFDI consortium NFDI4BIOIMAGE.</p&gt

High-resolution analysis of individual Drosophila melanogaster larvae uncovers individual variability in locomotion and its neurogenetic modulation

Neuronally orchestrated muscular movement and locomotion are defining faculties of multicellular animals. Due to its simple brain and genetic accessibility, the larva of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster allows one to study these processes at tractable levels of complexity. However, although the faculty of locomotion clearly pertains to the individual, most studies of locomotion in larvae use measurements aggregated across animals, or animals tested one by one, an extravagance for larger-scale analyses. This prevents grasping the inter- and intra-individual variability in locomotion and its neurogenetic determinants. Here, we present the IMBA (individual maggot behaviour analyser) for analysing the behaviour of individual larvae within groups, reliably resolving individual identity across collisions. We use the IMBA to systematically describe the inter- and intra-individual variability in locomotion of wild-type animals, and how the variability is reduced by associative learning. We then report a novel locomotion phenotype of an adhesion GPCR mutant. We further investigated the modulation of locomotion across repeated activations of dopamine neurons in individual animals, and the transient backward locomotion induced by brief optogenetic activation of the brain-descending 'mooncrawler' neurons. In summary, the IMBA is an easy-to-use toolbox allowing an unprecedentedly rich view of the behaviour and its variability of individual larvae, with utility in multiple biomedical research contexts

Supplementary movie S9 from High-resolution analysis of individual <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> larvae uncovers individual variability in locomotion and its neurogenetic modulation

Animation of a sample R53F07 ChR2-XXL larva. The blue dot marks the position of the head. The filling indicates the tail forward velocity in body lengths per second [bl/s]. At t = 30 s, light stimulation activates R53F07-neurons; at t = 60 s, the light stimulation ends

Supplementary movie S2 from High-resolution analysis of individual <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> larvae uncovers individual variability in the neurogenetic modulation of locomotion

A complete sample video from the data set used in Figure 8 (Fig. 9-13 use the same setup). Displayed are larvae of the genotype TH ChR2- XXL. After 30 s, blue light was presented for 30 s (not visible). For further details, see Supplementary movie S1

Supplementary movie S4 from High-resolution analysis of individual <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> larvae uncovers individual variability in the neurogenetic modulation of locomotion

A complete sample video from the data set “LCD2A” based on [43]. For further details, see Supplementary movie S1

Supplementary figures from High-resolution analysis of individual <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> larvae uncovers individual variability in the neurogenetic modulation of locomotion

A PDF file containing Supplementary figures S1-S13, including captions

Supplementary movie S1 from High-resolution analysis of individual <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> larvae uncovers individual variability in the neurogenetic modulation of locomotion

A complete sample video from the data set used in Figures 1-3. Displayed are Canton S wildtype larvae tested for their innate odour preference (one of the two Teflon cups contained an odour). The original video is overlaid with the contours (green), head (green dot) and tail (red dot) of all detected larvae, as well as an identification number of each detected object (which may be a larva or a ‘blob’ assembly of several larvae). The white objects on either side are the odour containers (of which one contains an odour and the other one is empty). Note that when larvae collide, red spines indicate the shape model approach used for collision resolution

Supplementary movie S3 from High-resolution analysis of individual <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> larvae uncovers individual variability in the neurogenetic modulation of locomotion

A complete sample video from the data set used in Figure 5-7. Displayed are larvae of the genotype CirlRescue. For further details, see Supplementary movie S1

Supplementary movie S9 from High-resolution analysis of individual <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> larvae uncovers individual variability in the neurogenetic modulation of locomotion

Animation of a sample R53F07 ChR2-XXL larva. The blue dot marks the position of the head. The filling indicates the tail forward velocity in body lengths per second [bl/s]. At t = 30 s, light stimulation activates R53F07-neurons; at t = 60 s, the light stimulation ends