| First Author | Wang F | Year | 2021 |
| Journal | Curr Biol | Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 2263-2273.e3 |
| PubMed ID | 33798432 | Mgi Jnum | J:322812 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6741180 | Doi | 10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.025 |
| Citation | Wang F, et al. (2021) OFF-transient alpha RGCs mediate looming triggered innate defensive response. Curr Biol 31(11):2263-2273.e3 |
| abstractText | Animals respond to visual threats, such as a looming object, with innate defensive behaviors. Here, we report that a specific type of retinal ganglion cell (RGC), the OFF-transient alpha RGC, is critical for the detection of looming objects. We identified Kcnip2 as its molecular marker. The activity of the Kcnip2-expressing RGCs encodes the size of the looming object. Ablation or suppression of these RGCs abolished or severely impaired the escape and freezing behaviors of mice in response to a looming object, while activation of their somas in the retina, or their axon terminals in the superior colliculus, triggered immediate escape behavior. Our results link the activity of a single type of RGC to visually triggered innate defensive behaviors and underscore that ethologically significant visual information is encoded by a labeled line strategy as early as in the retina. |
