Extended Flight Bouts Require Disinhibition from GABAergic Mushroom Body Neurons

Summary Insect flight is a complex behavior that requires the integration of multiple sensory inputs with flight motor output. Although previous genetic studies identified central brain monoaminergic neurons that modulate Drosophila flight, neuro-modulatory circuits underlying sustained flight bouts remain unexplored. Certain classes of dopaminergic and octopaminergic neurons that project to the mushroom body, a higher integrating center in the insect brain, are known to modify neuronal output based on contextual cues and thereby organismal behavior. This study focuses on how monoaminergic modulation of mushroom body GABAergic output neurons (MBONs) regulates the duration of flight bouts. O…