# Multisensory integration at the cell, circuit, and behavioral levels: How audiovisual signals drive dynamic courtship behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

> **NIH NIH F30** · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $26,355

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Perceiving multisensory information and responding with appropriate, real-time behaviors is critical for
normal communication and interaction with the environment. Past studies have investigated general brain
regions as well as specific cells that fire in response to more than one type of sensory cue, yet have not
pinpointed their presynaptic unimodal partners (inputs), meaning that the studied cells may have not been the
direct points of multisensory convergence. Additionally, these neurons themselves did not then drive
responsive and innate motor behavior. This has left gaps in understanding (1) how multisensory neurons
acquire their multi-modal feature detection properties directly from unimodal inputs at the cellular and circuit
levels, (2) how they integrate multimodal signals over time, and (3) how they then transform those signals into
dynamic motor responses, all during ethologically relevant and innate interactions.
 Neural circuits that govern Drosophila melanogaster courtship serve as a well-developed model for
sensory processing and real-time behavioral responses: during fly courtship, males sing to females, and
females perceive and respond to song, which in turn alters males’ own courting behavior. This forms a complex
“conversation” that emulates properties of many animals’ social interactions. Within the courtship circuit, I have
discovered two direct unisensory convergence points onto multicellular cells and circuits, which have
themselves been shown to be necessary and sufficient to drive and modulate robust, measurable, and innate
behavior in Drosophila females, providing an unprecedented opportunity to address the gaps described above.
The convergence points were identified via analysis of novel whole-brain and half-brain electron microscopy
datasets at synaptic resolution.
 This proposal will directly elucidate principles of multisensory integration at the cellular, circuit,
and behavioral levels. Through high resolution behavioral tracking assays, Aim 1 will determine how, by
integrating natural combinations of audiovisual information, two multisensory neurons drive an ethologically
relevant behavior in Drosophila females. Aim 2 will determine, using calcium imaging in behaving flies in a
courtship virtual reality, how those neurons integrate auditory and visual signals from three of their unisensory
inputs. Taken together, this study will significantly expand understanding of how brain cells and circuits process
multisensory signals and transform them into dynamic motor responses, contributing to a foundation for
long-term understanding of normal and disordered sensorimotor function. Additionally, this scientific proposal,
along with the outstanding training environment in the Murthy lab and at the joint MD/PhD program at
Princeton and Rutgers, will provide exceptional foundational training in preparation for my career as an
independent physician scientist with my own laboratory.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10389197
- **Project number:** 1F30NS120845-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Edna Normand
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $26,355
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-06-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10389197

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10389197, Multisensory integration at the cell, circuit, and behavioral levels: How audiovisual signals drive dynamic courtship behavior in Drosophila melanogaster (1F30NS120845-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10389197. Licensed CC0.

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