用于群体协调的脊髓回路
A spinal circuit for collective coordination
AI总结：
本研究发现斑马鱼的脊髓本体感受神经元构成的回路，可通过局部互动实现涡旋相位匹配，驱动群游行为并降低能量成本。
AI中文摘要：
动物群体的协调运动是最普遍的社会行为之一，通常被归因于大脑的高阶认知处理。然而，群体协调似乎可由个体间快速的局部互动产生，提示存在有待确定的去中心化在线协调机制。本研究表明，斑马鱼群游过程中的实时社会协调需要一个低阶脊髓感觉运动回路。该回路的核心是脊髓内本体感受神经元，它们检测局部身体弯曲并传递基于曲率的直接抑制，以精确调控运动网络的时序。结合电生理学、钙成像、光遗传学和行为分析，我们发现该回路可编码自身产生的（自我中心）和邻居诱导的（异中心）身体弯曲信号，使鱼类能将自身游泳的相位与邻居的尾流匹配（涡旋相位匹配）。在神经力学模型和物理机器人中，这一单反馈回路足以产生涡旋相位匹配并降低游泳的能量成本。破坏该回路会使相邻鱼类解偶联并消除群游行为。这些结果表明，脊髓回路通过简单的局部互动动态同步个体，揭示了低阶机制如何驱动协调群体行为的产生。
英文摘要：
The coordinated movement of animal groups is one of the most widespread social behaviors, which are generally attributed to high-order cognitive processing in the brain. Yet, collective coordination can seemingly emerge from rapid, local interactions between individuals, suggesting the existence of decentralized mechanisms of online coordination that remain to be identified. Here, we show that a low-order spinal sensorimotor circuit is required for real-time social coordination during schooling in zebrafish. Central to this circuit are intraspinal proprioceptive neurons that detect local body bending and deliver direct, curvature-based inhibition to precisely time the locomotor network. Combining electrophysiology, calcium imaging, optogenetics, and behavioral analysis, we show that this circuit encodes both self-generated (egocentric) and neighbor-induced (allocentric) body bending signals, enabling fish to match the phase of their swimming to the wakes of their neighbors (vortex phase matching). In a neuromechanical model and physical robot, this single feedback loop is sufficient to generate vortex phase matching and to lower the energetic cost of swimming. Disrupting this circuit uncouples neighboring fish and abolishes schooling behavior. These results show that a spinal circuit dynamically synchronizes individuals through simple, local interactions, revealing how low-order mechanisms can drive the emergence of coordinated group behavior.
