Abstract
Sex pheromones orient male moths toward conspecific female moths; the presence of visual information modulates this behavior. In the current study, we explore candidate neuronal pathways for the interaction between vision and the locomotor signal for pheromone orientation. We describe the connectivity between visual neuropils and brain premotor centers, the posterior slope (PS) and the lateral accessory lobe (LAL), in the silkmoth Bombyx mori. Using a single-cell labeling technique, we analyze visual projection neurons supplying these areas. Neurons from both the medulla and lobula complex projected to the PS but only the neurons originating in the lobula complex had additional processes to the LAL. Further, we identified populations of putative feedback neurons from the premotor centers to the optic lobe. Neurons originating in the PS were likely to project to the medulla, whereas those originating in the LAL were likely to project to the lobula complex. The anatomical study contributes to further understanding of integration of visual information on the locomotor control in the insect brain.
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Abbreviations
- CB:
-
Central body
- CX:
-
Central complex
- DNs:
-
Descending neurons
- ES:
-
Esophagus
- GNG:
-
Gnathal ganglion
- ILo:
-
Inner lobula
- LAL:
-
Lateral accessory lobe
- LALC:
-
Lateral accessory lobe commissure
- lALT:
-
Lateral antennal lobe tract
- LH:
-
Lateral horn
- LP:
-
Lobula plate
- LY:
-
Lucifer yellow
- Me:
-
Medulla
- MGC:
-
Macroglomerular complex
- OLo:
-
Outer lobula
- Pe:
-
Peduncles of the mushroom body
- PLP:
-
Posterior lateral protocerebrum
- PS:
-
Posterior slope
- SMP:
-
Superior medial protocerebrum
- VLP:
-
Ventral lateral protocerebrum
- VPC:
-
Ventral protocerebrum
- ΔILPC:
-
Delta area of the inferior lateral protocerebrum
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Acknowledgements
We thank Chika Iwatsuki, Satoshi Wada and Evan S. Hill for their technical assistance. We are grateful to the FlyCircuit database from the NCHC (National Center for High-performance Computing) and NTHU (National Tsing Hua University).
Funding
This work was financially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (Grant numbers: 17H05011 and 16H06732 to SN, 15H04399 to R.K.) and the Narishige Zoological Science Award to S.N.
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Namiki, S., Kanzaki, R. Morphology of visual projection neurons supplying premotor area in the brain of the silkmoth Bombyx mori. Cell Tissue Res 374, 497–515 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-018-2892-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-018-2892-0