RESEARCH PROJECTS - 1


Impulses in the large caliber DMIs can trigger escape (see below). However,
in an insect with one "constrained base" (CB - basal antennal segments
immobilized with surgical cement) DMIs are not activated and escape is not
initiated. Surprisingly, the entire antennal flagellum can be removed and
replaced with a plastic fiber: deflecting this prosthetic flagellum (P.F., bottom
trace_ can activate the DMIs. This indicates that receptors for antennal
displacement that are relevant to escape are located in basal segments.

             1) DIRECTED ESCAPE TRIGGERED BY MECHANOSENSORY INPUT.
Insects such as cockroaches and crickets evade predators with a rapid turning movement followed by running. This turn away is sometimes guided by wind sensory cues generated during the predator's movement. A set of uniquely identifiable "Giant Interneurons" encode information on the direction of wind stimuli, and that information is used to orient the animal's turn. In addition, the same escape movements are sometimes triggered by other stimuli, such as touch to the antennae. We recently discovered that a different set of uniquely identifiable interneurons, "Descending Mechanosensory Interneurons," encodes the location of touch stimuli impacting the antennae. We are now interested in how information represented in two different sensory interneuron networks is "merged" at a cellular level to control one common motor response (escape turning).
           -- This project is the primary responsibility of Chris Comer.

                  A sample of recent publications:

Comer, C.M. and Leung, V. (2004) The Vigilance of the Hunted: Mechanosensory-visual Integration in Insect Prey. A Chapter In: Complex Worlds from Simpler Nervous Systems, Ed. By F. Prete, MIT Press, forthcoming.

Ye, S., Leung, V., Khan, A., Baba, Y. and Comer, C.M. (2003) The antennal system of the cockroach and evasive behavior. I. Roles for Visual and mechanosensory cues in the response. J. Comp. Physiol. 189:89-96.

Comer, C.M. and Robertson, R.M. (2001) Identified nerve cells and insect behavior. In: Identified Neurons in Model Systems, ed. by J.L. Leonard, Prog. Neurobiol. 63:409-439.

Burdohan, J.A. and Comer, C.M.(1996) Cellular organization of an antennal mechanosensory pathway in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Journal of Neuroscience. 16(18):5830-5843.

Ye, S. and Comer, C.M. (1996) Correspondence of escape turning behavior with activity of descending mechanosensory interneurons in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Journal of Neuroscience. 16(18):5844-5853.

Ye, S., Dowd, J.P. and Comer, C.M. (1995) A motion tracking system for simultaneous recording of rapid locomotion and neural activity from an insect. J. Neurosci. Methods. 60:199-210.

 
Back / Forward