Position:	Postdoc -- ended May 2012
Email:	jan@ini.phys.ethz.ch
Work phone:	0041 (0)44 63 53066

Mechanosensory basis of flight control in the fruit fly

Flight control mechanisms in Drosophila provide a powerful model system for neural function in a meaningful context. The flight muscles are functionally divided into power and control muscles. The power muscles are stretch-activated and allow fast wing beating (~200Hz). Flight stabilization and maneuvering is mediated by tiny control muscles, that receive fast and phased mechanosensory feedback (<2ms delay) from Campaniform Sensilla on the wings and halteres. At these high wing beat frequencies the relevant feedback information is encoded in the spiking phase. To describe these cyclic kinematic patterns effectively, we model the activity of the fly’s power muscles as a non-linear oscillator. The initiation of a flight maneuver is described as a transient perturbation to the oscillator by the control muscles. To gain model parameters, we stimulate the halteres using phase coupled actuation of the fly body and measure the resulting changes in wing movements using a high speed (3kHz), real time vision system. Our setup allows naturalistic stimulation mimicking forces generated during maneuvers, as well as artificial stimulus patterns to be delivered. Preliminary results show that mechanosensory feedback may be crucial to maintain phase coherence of the oscillating wings. The application of physical analysis and model methods on this powerful model organism promise insights into basic neural control principles.