ArticlePLoS computational biology2019
Modelling the mechanics of exploration in larval Drosophila.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Multiple Scales of Coordination along the Body Axis duringThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Flexible modulation of hybrid feedback loops in competitive biological oscillators.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2025Article
- Two modes in the absolute velocity statistics in cautious walks of laboratory rodents.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Behavioral resilience via dynamic circuit firing homeostasis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Neural circuits underlying context-dependent competition between defensive actions in Drosophila larvae.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Characterizing stage-dependent neuromotor patterns inFrontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Article
- Alleviation of arsenic-induced neurobehavioral defects with selenium in the larvae of Zaprionus indianus.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2024Article
- Modeling Myotonic Dystrophy Type 2 UsingInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Scanning behaviour in ants: an interplay between random-rate processes and oscillators.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2023Article
- A complete biomechanical model ofProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Linking neural circuits to the mechanics of animal behavior inFrontiers in neural circuits · 2023Review
- Review
- A neuromechanical model for Drosophila larval crawling based on physical measurements.BMC biology · 2022Article
- NeuroMechFly, a neuromechanical model of adult Drosophila melanogaster.Nature methods · 2022Article
- Interspecies variation of larval locomotion kinematics in the genus Drosophila and its relation to habitat temperature.BMC biology · 2021Article
- Weierstrassian Lévy walks are a by-product of crawling.The European physical journal. E, Soft matter · 2021Article
- Robustness and plasticity in Drosophila heat avoidance.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Coordinated crawling via reinforcement learning.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Drosophila larva executes a stereotypical exploratory routine that appears to consist of stochastic alternation between straight peristaltic crawling and reorientation events through lateral bending. We present a model of larval mechanics for axial and transverse motion over a planar substrate, and use it to develop a simple, reflexive neuromuscular model from physical principles. The mechanical model represents the midline of the larva as a set of point masses which interact with each other via damped translational and torsional springs, and with the environment via sliding friction forces. The neuromuscular model consists of: 1. segmentally localised reflexes that amplify axial compression in order to counteract frictive energy losses, and 2. long-range mutual inhibition between reflexes in distant segments, enabling overall motion of the model larva relative to its substrate. In the absence of damping and driving, the mechanical model produces axial travelling waves, lateral oscillations, and unpredictable, chaotic deformations. The neuromuscular model counteracts friction to recover these motion patterns, giving rise to forward and backward peristalsis in addition to turning. Our model produces spontaneous exploration, even though the nervous system has no intrinsic pattern generating or decision making ability, and neither senses nor drives bending motions. Ultimately, our model suggests a novel view of larval exploration as a deterministic superdiffusion process which is mechanistically grounded in the chaotic mechanics of the body. We discuss how this may provide new interpretations for existing observations at the level of tissue-scale activity patterns and neural circuitry, and provide some experimental predictions that would test the extent to which the mechanisms we present translate to the real larva.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.