Name: a simple technique to assay locomotor activity in drosophila
Uploaded: 2023-02-24T14:00:00.000+00:00
Duration: 7 min 47 s
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Simple Technique to Assay Locomotor Activity in Drosophila at JoVE.com

This work was supported by a special launch fund from Soochow University and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (82171414). We thank Prof. Chunfeng Liu&#39;s lab members for their discussion and comments.

W1118 adult flies and third instar larvae were used for the present study.
1. Experimental preparation
NOTE: An open-field arena for Drosophila locomotion tracking is made withacolorless and odorless silica gel.
<ol>
	<li>Mix reagent A and reagent B at a ratio of 1:10, according to the manufacturer&#39;s instructions for the silica kit (see Table of Materials). Ensure that sodium bicarbonate is added to the mixture by stirring until the color changes to white. Transfer the mixture to a clean Petri dish and place it in an oven at 40 &#176;C for drying for 48 h.</li>
	<li>Set the HD camera (see Table of Materials) on a tripod, adjusting it so that the camera lens is perpendicular to the surface of the silica arena. Adjusting the focal length and the apertures of the camera, ensure that the camera is focused on the surface of the silica and that the display is adequately illuminated. The experimental setup is illustrated in Figure 1.</li>
	<li>Transfer a fly into the open-field arena to record a continuous video of at least 61 s. 
	NOTE: Considering the sluggish nature of larvae, a video recording time of more than 10 min is recommended.
	<ol>
		<li>Open the video with Fiji, drag the progress bar to the initial frame, and tacitly approve. Choose the whole body of the fly using the &#34;freehand selection&#34; tool (Figure 2B,C).</li>
		<li>Click image &#62; adjust &#62; brightness &#38; contrast to adjust the white balance until the gray value of the selected area approaches the broad background (Figure 2D-F). 
		&#8203;NOTE: Background homogenization of the first frame enables the software to distinguish the background without any objects and create a contrast when a fly is present, thus allowing the software to track it.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Perform the entire experiment in a testing environment set at 25 &#176;C and 60% relative humidity, in an area that is quiet and devoid of exposure to bright light.</li>
</ol>
2. Video recording and preprocessing
<ol>
	<li>After a short period of anesthesia using95%carbon dioxide (CO2), transfer a fly to the open-filed arena and press the record button on the camera application to start video recording. 
	NOTE: To minimize the effect of the anesthetic on locomotion, allow the flies to recover for 10 min before initiating video recording. Cool-anesthetizing by chilling is also recommended.
	<ol>
		<li>Once the flies recover from the anesthesia, put the arena dish containing the fly under the camera and shake the plate quickly from side to side to ensure that the fly is in motion when the recording begins.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Upon completion of the recording, press the stop button to terminate the video recording. 
	NOTE: Ensure that the video recording time slightly exceeds the destination tracking time by a small margin. In addition, to improve the experimental efficiency, it is possible to track multiple flies spontaneously. This depends on the resolution of the camera to enable a high-quality video crop.</li>
	<li>Convert the recorded videos into AVI format with MJPEG encoding, so they can be opened and analyzed using Fiji. Meanwhile, set the frames per second (fps) rate of the video to 15 fps for adult flies and 12 fps for larvae.</li>
</ol>
3. Video analysis
<ol>
	<li>Open the video that has been transformed with &#34;use virtual stack&#34; and &#34;convert to grayscale&#34;, two options in the popup window when opening the video with Fiji (Figure 2A).</li>
	<li>Make a blank first frame, as mentioned above.</li>
	<li>Obtain a processing window by using the &#34;set active image&#34; tool of the AnimalTracker plugin and create a tracking area that circles the arena in the original video window using the &#34;oval&#34; tool (Figure 3A).</li>
	<li>Set the filters (Figure 3A,3) and the parameters of the two filters (Figure 4A-G) for the first blank frame in the processing window. Then, select the next frame in the original video window, and choose the filtered surface of the processing window (Figure 5A-C). 
	NOTE: The filtering step serves to decrease image noise and/or remove the background, thus making it simpler to separate the foreground from the background in the binarization of the frames.</li>
	<li>Once a filtered processing window is selected, turn the tracked fly with a red profile covered in the processing window by using the &#34;set threshold&#34; tool (Figure 3A,4, Figure 5D-E, and Figure 6A).</li>
	<li>Use the &#34;set blob-detector&#34; to let the computer recognize the fly with a red profile covered in the processing window (Figure 3A,5 and Figure 6B).</li>
	<li>Set frame 901 as the last frame for the adult fly, calculated by the video&#39;s recording duration and fps (Figure 3A,6, Figure 6C). 
	NOTE: The following experiment with larvae has been tracked for 10 min, so frame 7200 is set as the last frame.</li>
	<li>Use the &#34;show blobs&#34; tool to present a tracking rectangle in the original video window (Figure 3A,7 and Figure 6D,E). Then, start the tracking and export the tracking file after the monitoring is completed (Figure 3A,8,9 and Figure 7A,B).</li>
</ol>
4. Tracking file analysis
<ol>
	<li>Load the track and zone files using the Animal tracker &#62; Tracking analyzer plugin (Figure 8A).</li>
	<li>Select the desired index using zone settings and alter the parameter settings (Figure 8). Calculate the time of the frame interval using the frame rate. 
	NOTE: In this condition, the frame rate is 15 fps, and the frame interval is approximately 0.067 s, which is the default setting (Figure 8D).</li>
	<li>Produce the quantitative analysis charts using the spreadsheet software and GraphPad Prism after being analyzed in tracking analyzer (Figure 9).</li>
</ol>
5. Analysis per frame
<ol>
	<li>Perform speed analysis per frame interval. Analyze the track file without Fiji if more detailed research is needed.
	<ol>
		<li>Open the track file, copy all coordinates to Microsoft Office Excel, and split the cells using the space key. 
		NOTE: For example, once the file has been divided into &#34;C&#34; and &#34;D&#34; columns, the speed of Drosophila per frame interval is calculated by the formula SQRT((C5-C4)^2+(D5-D4)^2), which is shown in the &#34;E&#34; column (Figure 10A). The data in column &#34;E&#34; indicates the number of pixels that the fly moved between two frames, with the first frame not being considered. Select all calculated results and insert a line chart to exhibit an intuitive fly movement speed per frame interval, with a peak on the line chart (Figure 10B).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Calculate the immobility time per frame interval. After the file has been split into &#34;C&#34; and &#34;D&#34; columns, calculate the immobility status of Drosophila per frame interval using the formula IF(SQRT((C6-C5)^2+(D6-D5)^2) &#60;20, 0, 1), which is shown in the &#34;E&#34; column. (Figure 10C). 
	NOTE: Unlike speed analysis, the results of the first frame were defined. Flies that moved fewer than 20 pixels were considered immobile and recorded as &#34;0&#34; in column &#34;E&#34;.
	<ol>
		<li>Select all calculated results and insert a column chart to visually exhibit the immobility time by the margin of the whole column chart (Figure 10D).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Ensure that the angle of direction changes. 
	NOTE: The angle of direction change analysis represents the flies&#39; direction choice. Once the file has been split into &#34;C&#34; and &#34;D&#34; columns, the angle of direction change is calculated by the formula ACOS(((SQRT((C7-C6)^2+(D7-D6)^2))^2+(SQRT((C6-C5)^2+(D6-D5)^2))^2-(SQRT((C7-C5)^2+(D7-D5)^2))^2)/(2*SQRT((C6-C5)^2+(D6-D5)^2))*(SQRT((C7-C6)^2+(D7-D6)^2)))*180/PI(), which is presented in the &#34;E&#34; column (Figure 10E). The calculated results indicates the angle between three coordinates.
	<ol>
		<li>Select all calculated results and insert a scatter diagram to illustrate the angle of direction change of the flies&#39; movement (Figure 10F).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>

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The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

We have designed a method, based on the open-source material AnimalTracker API compatible with the Fiji image processing program, that can enable researchers to systematically evaluate locomotor activity by tracking both adult and individual larval flies. AnimalTracke is a tool written in Java that can be easily integrated into existing databases or other tools to facilitate the analysis of application-designed animal-tracking behavior24. Upon a frame-by-frame analysis by a software calculation formula that quantifies the locomotor activity of the adults and larvae, several parameters, including movement speed, distance traveled, immobility, and angle of direction changes can be flexibly analyzed. These parameters, which represent different aspects of behavioral locomotion, can be plotted to illustrate locomotor changes over time. Additionally, by creating a graphical user interface, providing detailed documentation on its usage, and an application programming interface, we aim to make this method&#160;accessible to researchers who lack programming experience and experienced users creating custom experimental paradigms.
To verify that the method can accurately monitor behavior, locomotor testing of adult flies and larvae treated with rotenone, as well as a comparison of their motor activity to that of control flies fed with the drug&#39;s solvent, has been carried out. The Fiji software, with its plugins, is used to analyze the pixel coordinates of each frame in the video recording of the movement, allowing for calculation of the speed, distance, and other parameters of the experimental flies. We observed a significant decrease in distance traveled over time in rotenone administration (Figure 11), which is consistent with reported results23. Meanwhile, the ascending movement speed and abnormal direction chosen have been observed in drug-fed groups, to help illustrate more details of the behavioral deficiency in flies. Given the success in detecting adult flies&#39; locomotor activity, we then sought to evaluate the mobility of larvae (Figure 12). Compared to the control, the results of the tracking larvae fed with rotenone were significantly impaired, paralleling those of adult flies fed with drugs. Experiments with the adults and larvae fed with rotenone suggest that this method can accurately record the reduction of flies that produced locomotor deficits compared to controls.&#160;This report has successfully demonstrated applications of the current method in quantifying and analyzing locomotor ability and other facets of behavior defects of fruit flies in testing models or pharmacological research in animals.
To ensure that the video and tracking analysis yields successful and reproducible results, it is recommended to adhere to the following guidelines. First, for the choice of video frame rate, we recommend converting the recorded video to a format of 15 frames per second (fps). This can not only maintain good motion tracking, but also avoid the slowness of computer analysis caused by vast amounts of data. By improving the video frame rate, the motion trajectory analysis gets more detailed. Secondly, the parameters in the formula can also be adjusted to suit the corresponding experimental scheme when analyzing the static motion between every two frames. For larvae locomotor monitoring, it is essential to use silica gel rather than agar, as the solidified silica gel is tight and the larvae cannot get into it. Moreover, silica gel is transparent and can be dyed by adding color substance to produce optimal background, facilitating desired optical effects that enhance the image quality.
Animal tracking systems are being advanced to provide comprehensive solutions for the etiology, neuroscience, and behavioral genetics communities. Table 1 provides a comparison of the features of multiple tracking programs currently available10,11,12,16,17,25,26. This approach is extremely cost-effective, straightforward to learn, and precise in measuring locomotor behavior, without requiring costly software and equipment. There is no doubt that this method can be conveniently extended to other Drosophila-like animal models, and even to larger animals such as rats and mice. The structure of the AnimalTracker API can be extended with ease through independent ImageJ applications or plugins, offering a broad array of useful toolkits for custom behavior research and analysis24. Nevertheless, this study has certain restrictions. Since a single fly is placed in an open-field arena for image recording and video tracking is conducted individually, this method is inefficient and time-consuming. We have attempted to expand the capacity for recording multiple arenas simultaneously, allowing for up to six individual recordings. It is theoretically possible to record a greater number of Drosophila simultaneously; this depends on the size of the arena and the configuration of the camera. Alternatively, if users wish to extend to recording grouped Drosophila, it is recommended to consider the limited number of single records and a configuration of sufficient quality to identify collisions and overlaps between the flies. Improvements in the testing efficiency by machine learning were not considered in the study, since an affordable and compatible approach has not been figured out that can be integrated with the current system to visually distinguish identities and track models accurately.
In summary, the method described here develops and validates an efficient and straightforward approach based on free, open-source software, designed to reduce time consumption and refine experimental techniques for quantitatively indicating and analyzing Drosophila locomotion in the larvae and adult stages. Through systematic analysis, this method can help us understand how the animal&#39;s velocity changes over time during movement, as well as the characteristics of directional selection. Thus, the incorporation of open-source software into commonly used digital devices provides a reliable way to test locomotor activity in various fly models. This might be useful for evaluating physiological and pathological locomotor outputs in testing neurodegenerative disease models derived from pharmacological treatment and transgenic modification in Drosophila as well as other animals.

Drosophila melanogaster provides an excellent model organism for investigating cellular and molecular functions in neuronal disease models created by gene modification1, drug treatment2, and senescence3. The high conservation of biological pathways, physical properties, and disease-associated homolog genes between humans and Drosophila makes the fruit fly an ideal mimic from the molecular to the behavioral level4. In many disease models, behavioral deficiency is an important index, providing a helpful model for various human neuropathies5,6. Drosophila is now used to study multiple human diseases, neurodevelopment, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson&#39;s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis7,8. Detecting the motor ability of the disease models is crucial for understanding the pathogenic progress and may provide a phenotypic correlation to the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease process.
Recently, commercially available software tools and cost-effective programs have been developed for Drosophila locomotor detection strategies, such as high-throughput testing in grouped flies9,10 and measuring locomotion in real-time11,12. One such conventional approach is rapid interactive negative geotaxis (RING), also called the climbing assay, which includes multiple channels that allow for a large fly population with the same gender and age to be contained, reducing variation while data collecting9,13. Another pre-testing method for analyzing locomotor behavior is TriKinetics Drosophila activity monitor (DAM), a device that uses multiple beams to detect fly activity movement within a thin glass tube14. The device records position continuously, which represents automated locomotion by calculating the beam-crossings to study the activity and circadian rhythm of flies over a longer period of time15. Although these methods have been widely used in analyzing behavioral defects in fruit flies to determine changes in behavioral locomotion, they always require special testing equipment or complex analysis processes, and restrict their application in some models with a limited, simple device. Animal-tracing group-based strategies for testing the adult Drosophila, such as FlyGrAM11 and the Drosophila island assay10, implement social recruitment and individual tracking in a predefined area. Nevertheless, social individual restriction in defied areas might have a negative effect on identifications in the images, caused by the collision or overlapping of flies. Even though some open-source materials-based methods, such as TRex16, MARGO12, and FlyPi17, have an emergency, they can fast-track trace the flies with flexible usage in behavioral testing. These testing approaches are associated with elaborate experimental apparatus installations, special software requirements, or professional computer languages. For larvae, measuring the total distance traveled across the number of grid border lines per unit of time18, or rough counting the body wall contractions for individuals manually19, are the predominant methods for assessing their locomotor ability. Due to the lack of precision in equipment or devices and analysis methods, some behavioral locomotion of larvae might escape detection, making it difficult to accurately assess behavioral movement, especially fine movement15.
The present developed method utilizes the AnimalTracker application programming interface (API), compatible with the Fiji (ImageJ) image processing program, to systematically evaluate the locomotor activity of both adult and larval flies by analyzing their tracking behavior from high-definition (HD) videos. Fiji is an open-source software ImageJ distribution that can combine robust software libraries with numerous scripting languages, resulting in rapid prototyping of image processing algorithms, making it popular among biologists for its image analysis capabilities20. In the current approach, Fiji&#39;s integration into the AnimalTracker API is exploited to develop a unique Drosophila behavioral assay with personalized algorithm insertion, and provides a useful step for detailed documentation and tutorials to support robust analytical capabilities of locomotor behavior (Figure 1). To circumvent the complication of objective identifications in the images caused by the collision or overlapping of flies, each arena is restricted to hosting only one fly. Upon assessing the tracking precision of the approach, it was implemented to trace and quantify the locomotor movements of Drosophila that were administered with the toxic drug rotenone, which is generally used for animal models of Parkinson&#39;s disease, ultimately discovering locomotion impairment in the drug treatment21. This methodology, which employs open-source and free software, does not necessitate high-cost instrumentation, and can precisely and reproducibly analyze Drosophila behavioral locomotion.

<table><tbody><tr><td>Animal tracker</td><td>Hungarian Brain Research Program</td><td>version: 1.7</td><td>pfficial website: http://animaltracker.elte.hu/main/downloads</td></tr><tr><td>Camera software</td><td>Microsoft</td><td>version: 2021.105.10.0</td><td>built-in windows 10 system</td></tr><tr><td>Computer</td><td>DELL</td><td>Vostro-14-5480</td><td>a comupter running win 10 system is available</td></tr><tr><td>Drosophila carbon dioxide anesthesia workstation</td><td>Wu han Yihong technology</td><td>#YHDFPCO2-018</td><td>official website: http://www.yhkjwh.com/</td></tr><tr><td>Fiji software</td><td>Fiji team</td><td>version: 1.53v</td><td>official website: https://fiji.sc/</td></tr><tr><td>Format factory software</td><td>Pcfreetime</td><td>version: X64 5.4.5</td><td>official website: http://www.pcfreetime.com/formatfactory/CN/index.html</td></tr><tr><td>Graph pad prism</td><td>GraphPad Software</td><td>version: 8.0.2</td><td>official website: https://www.graphpad-prism.cn</td></tr><tr><td>Hight definition camera</td><td>TTQ</td><td>Jingwang2 (HD1080P F1.6 6-60mm)</td><td>official website: http://www.ttq100.com/product_show.php?id=35</td></tr><tr><td>Office software</td><td>Microsoft</td><td>version: office 2019</td><td>official website: https://www.microsoftstore.com.cn/software/office</td></tr><tr><td>Petri dish</td><td>Bkman</td><td>110301003</td><td>size: 60 mm</td></tr><tr><td>Silica gel</td><td>DOW</td><td>SYLGARD 184 Silicone Elastomer Kit</td><td>Mix well according to the instructions</td></tr><tr><td>Sodium bicarbonate</td><td>Macklin</td><td>#144-55-8</td><td>Mix well with silica gel</td></tr></tbody></table>

a simple technique to assay locomotor activity in drosophila

Drosophila melanogaster is an ideal model organism for studying various diseases due to its abundance of advanced genetic manipulation techniques and diverse behavioral features. Identifying behavioral deficiency in animal models is a crucial measure of disease severity, for example, in neurodegenerative diseases where patients often experience impairments in motor function. However, with the availability of various systems to track and assess motor deficits in fly models, such as drug-treated or transgenic individuals, an economical and user-friendly system for precise evaluation from multiple angles is still lacking. A method based on the AnimalTracker application programming interface (API) is developed here, which is compatible with the Fiji image processing program, to systematically evaluate the movement activities of both adult and larval individuals from recorded video, thus allowing for the analysis of their tracking behavior. This method requires only a high-definition camera and a computer peripheral hardware integration to record and analyze behavior, making it an affordable and effective approach for screening fly models with transgenic or environmental behavioral deficiencies. Examples of behavioral tests using pharmacologically treated flies are given to show how the techniques can detect behavioral changes in both adult flies and larvae in a highly repeatable manner.

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A Simple Technique to Assay Locomotor Activity in Drosophila

The present protocol assesses the locomotor activity of Drosophila by tracking and analyzing the movement of flies in a hand-made arena using open-source software Fiji, compatible with plugins to segment pixels of each frame based on high-definition video recording to calculate parameters of speed, distance, etc.

A Simple Technique to Assay Locomotor Activity in Drosophila

Drosophila melanogaster is an ideal model organism for studying various diseases due to its abundance of advanced genetic manipulation techniques and ...

a-simple-technique-to-assay-locomotor-activity-in-drosophila

Nanyang Technological University

Research

JoVE Journal

Behavior

2.9K Views.  Soochow University. De methode is gebaseerd op open source software om systematisch de lokale motorische activiteiten te evalueren voor het volggedrag van volwassen en de larven vliegen van opgenomen video. Deze methode vereist goedkope apparaatintegratie om gedrag vast te leggen en te analyseren, waardoor het een betaalbare en effectieve aanpak is voor het screenen van vliegbewegingen. Deze technologie wordt gebruikt om gedragsverandering te identificeren in een vliegmodel van menselijke ziekte met lokale beweg...

Video: A Simple Technique to Assay Locomotor Activity in Drosophila

Assaying Locomotor Activity to Study Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Parameters in Drosophila

Most life forms exhibit daily rhythms in cellular, physiological and behavioral phenomena that are driven by endogenous circadian (&equiv;24 hr) pacemakers or clocks. Malfunctions in the human circadian system are associated with numerous diseases or disorders. Much progress towards our understanding of the mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms has emerged from genetic screens whereby an easily measured behavioral rhythm is used as a read-out of clock function. Studies using Drosophila have made seminal contributions to our understanding of the cellular and biochemical bases underlying circadian rhythms. The standard circadian behavioral read-out measured in Drosophila is locomotor activity. In general, the monitoring system involves specially designed devices that can measure the locomotor movement of Drosophila. These devices are housed in environmentally controlled incubators located in a darkroom and are based on using the interruption of a beam of infrared light to record the locomotor activity of individual flies contained inside small tubes. When measured over many days, Drosophila exhibit daily cycles of activity and inactivity, a behavioral rhythm that is governed by the animal's endogenous circadian system. The overall procedure has been simplified with the advent of commercially available locomotor activity monitoring devices and the development of software programs for data analysis. We use the system from Trikinetics Inc., which is the procedure described here and is currently the most popular system used worldwide. More recently, the same monitoring devices have been used to study sleep behavior in Drosophila. Because the daily wake-sleep cycles of many flies can be measured simultaneously and only 1 to 2 weeks worth of continuous locomotor activity data is usually sufficient, this system is ideal for large-scale screens to identify Drosophila manifesting altered circadian or sleep properties.

Assaying Locomotor Activity to Study Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Parameters in Drosophila

We describe procedures for recording daily locomotor activity rhythms of Drosophila and subsequent data analysis. Locomotor activity rhythms are a reliable behavioral output of animal circadian clocks and are used as the standard readout of clock function when studying circadian mutants or examining how the environment regulates the circadian system.

Most life forms exhibit daily rhythms in cellular, physiological and behavioral phenomena that are driven by endogenous circadian (&equiv;24 hr) ...

Neuroscience

An Automated Rapid Iterative Negative Geotaxis Assay for Analyzing Adult Climbing Behavior in a Drosophila Model of Neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative diseases are frequently associated with a progressive loss of movement ability, reduced life span, and age-dependent neurodegeneration. To understand the mechanism of these cellular events, and their causal relationships with each other, Drosophila melanogaster, with its sophisticated genetic tools and diverse behavioral features, are used as disease models for assessing neurodegenerative phenotypes. Here we describe a high-throughput method to analyze Drosophila adult negative geotaxis behavior, as an indication for possible motor defects associated with neurodegeneration. An automated machine is designed and developed to drive fly synchronization using an initial electric impulse, later allowing the recording of negative geotaxis behavior over a course of secs to mins. Images from the digitally recorded video are then processed with the self-designed RflyDetection software for statistical data manipulation. Different from the manually controlled negative geotaxis assay based on single fly, this precise, fast, and high-throughput protocol allows data acquisition from more than hundreds of flies simultaneously, providing an efficient approach to advance our understanding in the underlying mechanism of locomotor deficits associated with neurodegeneration.

An Automated Rapid Iterative Negative Geotaxis Assay for Analyzing Adult Climbing Behavior in a Drosophila Model of Neurodegeneration

This step-by-step protocol analyzes Drosophila negative geotaxis behavior using an automated multi-cylinder system that hosts hundreds of flies and synchronizes their action by an electric motor. Upon synchronization, fly negative geotaxis behavior is assayed, digitally recorded, and analyzed using the self-designed RflyDetection software.

Neurodegenerative diseases are frequently associated with a progressive loss of movement ability, reduced life span, and age-dependent neurodegeneration. ...

High-Resolution Video Tracking of Locomotion in Adult Drosophila Melanogaster

Flies provide an important model for studying complex behavior due to the plethora of genetic tools available to researchers in this field. Studying locomotor behavior in Drosophila melanogaster relies on the ability to be able to quantify changes in motion during or in response to a given task. For this reason, a high-resolution video tracking system, such as the one we describe in this paper, is a valuable tool for measuring locomotion in real-time. Our protocol involves the use of an initial air pulse to break the flies momentum, followed by a thirty second filming period in a square chamber. A tracking program is then used to calculate the instantaneous speed of each fly within the chamber in 10 msec increments. Analysis software then compiles this data, and outputs a variety of parameters such as average speed, max speed, time spent in motion, acceleration, etc. This protocol will discuss proper feeding and management of flies for behavioral tasks, handling flies without anesthetization or immobilization, setting up a controlled environment, and running the assay from start to finish.

The study of complex locomotor behavior in Drosophila melanogaster is dependent upon the ability to quantify changes in a given fly's movement. This article demonstrates how to do this using a high-resolution tracking system.

Flies provide an important model for studying complex behavior due to the plethora of genetic tools available to researchers in this field.  Studying ...

Biology

Methods to Assay Drosophila Behavior

Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, has been used to study molecular mechanisms of a wide range of human diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and various neurological diseases1. We have optimized simple and robust behavioral assays for determining larval locomotion, adult climbing ability (RING assay), and courtship behaviors of Drosophila. These behavioral assays are widely applicable for studying the role of genetic and environmental factors on fly behavior. Larval crawling ability can be reliably used for determining early stage changes in the crawling abilities of Drosophila larvae and also for examining effect of drugs or human disease genes (in transgenic flies) on their locomotion. The larval crawling assay becomes more applicable if expression or abolition of a gene causes lethality in pupal or adult stages, as these flies do not survive to adulthood where they otherwise could be assessed. This basic assay can also be used in conjunction with bright light or stress to examine additional behavioral responses in Drosophila larvae. Courtship behavior has been widely used to investigate genetic basis of sexual behavior, and can also be used to examine activity and coordination, as well as learning and memory. Drosophila courtship behavior involves the exchange of various sensory stimuli including visual, auditory, and chemosensory signals between males and females that lead to a complex series of well characterized motor behaviors culminating in successful copulation. Traditional adult climbing assays (negative geotaxis) are tedious, labor intensive, and time consuming, with significant variation between different trials2-4. The rapid iterative negative geotaxis (RING) assay5 has many advantages over more widely employed protocols, providing a reproducible, sensitive, and high throughput approach to quantify adult locomotor and negative geotaxis behaviors. In the RING assay, several genotypes or drug treatments can be tested simultaneously using large number of animals, with the high-throughput approach making it more amenable for screening experiments.

Methods to Assay Drosophila Behavior

Drosophila melanogaster is a genetically and behaviorally tractable model system that has been used to understand the molecular and cellular basis of many important biological processes for over a century 1. Drosophila has been well exploited to gain insights into the genetic basis of fly behavior.

Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, has been used to study molecular mechanisms of a wide range of human diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular ...

Determination of the Spontaneous Locomotor Activity in Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster has been used as an excellent model organism to study environmental and genetic manipulations that affect behavior. One such behavior is spontaneous locomotor activity. Here we describe our protocol that utilizes Drosophila population monitors and a tracking system that allows continuous monitoring of the spontaneous locomotor activity of flies for several days at a time. This method is simple, reliable, and objective and can be used to examine the effects of aging, sex, changes in caloric content of food, addition of drugs, or genetic manipulations that mimic human diseases.

Determination of the Spontaneous Locomotor Activity in Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster are useful in studying genetic or environmental manipulations that affect behaviors such as spontaneous locomotor activity.&#160; Here we describe a protocol that utilizes monitors with infrared beams and data analysis software to quantify spontaneous locomotor activity.&#160;

Drosophila melanogaster has been used as an excellent model organism to study environmental and genetic manipulations that affect behavior. One such ...

A Low-cost Method for Analyzing Seizure-like Activity and Movement in Drosophila

Video tracking systems have been used widely to analyze Drosophila melanogaster movement and detect various abnormalities in locomotive behavior. While these systems can provide a wealth of behavioral information, the cost and complexity of these systems can be prohibitive for many labs. We have developed a low-cost assay for measuring locomotive behavior and seizure movement in D. melanogaster. The system uses a web-cam to capture images that can be processed using a combination of inexpensive and free software to track the distance moved, the average velocity of movement and the duration of movement during a specified time-span. To demonstrate the utility of this system, we examined a group of D. melanogaster mutants, the Bang-sensitive (BS) paralytics, which are 3-10 times more susceptible to seizure-like activity (SLA) than wild type flies. Using this novel system, we were able to detect that the BS mutant bang senseless (bss) exhibits lower levels of exploratory locomotion in a novel environment than wild type flies. In addition, the system was used to identify that the drug metformin, which is commonly used to treat type II diabetes, reduces the intensity of SLA in the BS mutants.

A Low-cost Method for Analyzing Seizure-like Activity and Movement in Drosophila

Using a webcam and a combination of free and inexpensive software programs, locomotive patterns in Drosophila melanogaster can be analyzed to detect differences in the speed, distance, and time of various motor activities.

Video tracking systems have been used widely to analyze Drosophila melanogaster movement and detect various abnormalities in locomotive behavior. While ...

An Improved Method for Accurate and Rapid Measurement of Flight Performance in Drosophila

Drosophila has proven to be a useful model system for analysis of behavior, including flight. The initial flight tester involved dropping flies into an oil-coated graduated cylinder; landing height provided a measure of flight performance by assessing how far flies will fall before producing enough thrust to make contact with the wall of the cylinder. Here we describe an updated version of the flight tester with four major improvements. First, we added a &#34;drop tube&#34; to ensure that all flies enter the flight cylinder at a similar velocity between trials, eliminating variability between users. Second, we replaced the oil coating with removable plastic sheets coated in Tangle-Trap, an adhesive designed to capture live insects. Third, we use a longer cylinder to enable more accurate discrimination of flight ability. Fourth we use a digital camera and imaging software to automate the scoring of flight performance. These improvements allow for the rapid, quantitative assessment of flight behavior, useful for large datasets and large-scale genetic screens.

An Improved Method for Accurate and Rapid Measurement of Flight Performance in Drosophila

Here we describe a method for rapid and accurate measurement of flight performance in Drosophila, enabling high-throughput screening.

Drosophila has proven to be a useful model system for analysis of behavior, including flight. The initial flight tester involved dropping flies into an ...

Measurement of Larval Activity in the Drosophila Activity Monitor

Drosophila larvae are used in many behavioral studies, yet a simple device for measuring basic parameters of larval activity has not been available. This protocol repurposes an instrument often used to measure adult activity, the TriKinetics Drosophila activity monitor (MB5 Multi-Beam Activity Monitor) to study larval activity. The instrument can monitor the movements of animals in 16 individual 8 cm glass assay tubes, using 17 infrared detection beams per tube. Logging software automatically saves data to a computer, recording parameters such as number of moves, times sensors were triggered, and animals&#8217; positions within the tubes. The data can then be analyzed to represent overall locomotion and/or position preference as well as other measurements. All data are easily accessible and compatible with basic graphing and data manipulation software. This protocol will discuss how to use the apparatus, how to operate the software and how to run a larval activity assay from start to finish.

Measurement of Larval Activity in the Drosophila Activity Monitor

This report describes a method for measuring Drosophila larval activity using the TriKinetics Drosophila Activity Monitor. The device employs infrared beams to detect movements of up to 16 individual animals. Data can be analyzed to represent motion parameters including rates and the positions of the animals within the assay chambers.

Drosophila larvae are used in many behavioral studies, yet a simple device for measuring basic parameters of larval activity has not been available. This ...

Fly Climbing Assay: A Method to Test General Locomotion in Drosophila melanogaster

Source: Gevedon, O., et al. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/video/59720/in-vivo-forward-genetic-screen-to-identify-novel-neuroprotective">In Vivo Forward Genetic Screen to Identify Novel Neuroprotective Genes in Drosophila melanogaster</a>. J. Vis. Exp. (2019).
This video describes a simple method to quantify fly locomotion and shows the climbing assay performed.&#160; The fly climbing assay is a general test of motor function which relies on a negative geotaxis response.

Source: Gevedon, O., et al. In Vivo Forward Genetic Screen to Identify Novel Neuroprotective Genes in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Vis. Exp. (2019).
This ...

JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments

Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly)

Adult

Tracking Freely Walking Flies: A Method to Assess Locomotion in Drosophila

Source: Sun, M. and Chen, L. L. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/video/55602/" target="_blank">A Novel Method to Model Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Drosophila</a>. J. Vis. Exp. (2017).
This video describes how to track freely walking flies to assess their general locomotion ability. The featured protocol demonstrates the assay&#39;s setup and data analysis using video tracking software.

Source: Sun, M. and Chen, L. L. A Novel Method to Model Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Drosophila. J. Vis. Exp. (2017).
This video describes how to ...

A Simple Technique to Assay Locomotor Activity in Drosophila

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