Tracking the Navigation Behavior of Drosophila Larvae in Real and Virtual Odor Gradients by Using the Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality (PiVR) System.

In a closed-loop experimental paradigm, an animal experiences a modulation of its sensory input as a function of its own behavior. Tools enabling closed-loop experiments are crucial for delineating causal relationships between the activity of genetically labeled neurons and specific behavioral responses. We have recently developed an experimental platform known as "Raspberry Pi Virtual Reality" (PiVR) that is used to perform closed-loop optogenetic stimulation of neurons in unrestrained animals. PiVR is a system that operates at high temporal resolution (>30-Hz) and with low latencies. Larvae of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are ideal to study the role of individual neurons in modulating behavior to aid the understanding of the neural pathways underlying various guided behaviors. Here, we introduce larval chemotaxis as an example of a navigational behavior in which an animal seeks to locate a target-in this case, the attractive source of an odor-by tracking a concentration gradient. The methodologies that we describe here combine the use of PiVR with the study of larval chemotaxis in real and virtual odor gradients, but these can also be readily adapted to other sensory modalities.