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Rearing in darkness changes visually-guided choice behavior in Drosophila

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Helmut V.B. Hirsch ,
Doreen Potter ,
Dariusz Zawierucha ,
Tanvir Choudhri ,
Adrian Glasser ,
Rodney K. Murphey  and
Duncan Byers
Helmut V.B. Hirsch
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Doreen Potter
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Dariusz Zawierucha
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Tanvir Choudhri
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Adrian Glasser
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
Rodney K. Murphey
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Behavior Project, Morrell Science Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Duncan Byers
Affiliation:
Neurobiology Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences, The University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany
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Abstract

To test whether visual experience can affect development of visual behavior in the fruitfly, Drosophila, we measured the visually-guided choice behavior of groups of flies reared in complete darkness, compared with controls reared in a normal light/dark cycle. We used a simple visual preference test, i.e. choice among four different visual targets each consisting of vertical black lines of a particular width on a white background, using a blind testing procedure so that the individual rearing histories were not known by the tester. Both groups of flies were strongly attracted to the vertical lines; however, generally the dark-reared flies were more attracted to the wider stimulus lines than were the control flies. Control experiments in which normally reared adults were kept for several days in darkness showed that the effects of dark-rearing were not simply due to being in darkness, but depended upon the timing of the deprivation. The results indicate that the development of visual behavior can be affected by visual experience in Drosophila and thus open the possibility of using Drosophila for genetic dissection of mechanisms of visual plasticity.

Keywords

Visual plasticityDrosophilaPattern visionVisual deprivationNeural development
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 281 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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