AAV-mediated Anterograde Transsynaptic Tagging: Mapping Input-Defined Functional Neural Pathways for Defense Behavior

By Brian Zingg, Xiao-lin Chou, Zheng-gang Zhang, Lukas Mesik, F. Liang, H. Tao, Li I. Zhang. Neuron, 2016

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To decipher neural circuits underlying brain functions, viral tracers are widely applied to map input and output connectivity of specific neuronal populations. Despite the successful application of retrograde transsynaptic viruses for identifying presynaptic neurons of transduced neurons, analogous anterograde transsynaptic tools for tagging postsynaptically targeted neurons remain under development. Here, we report that adeno-associated virus (AAV1 and AAV9) exhibit anterograde transsynaptic spread properties. AAV1-Cre from transduced presynaptic neurons effectively and specifically drove Cre-dependent transgene expression in selected postsynaptic neuronal targets, and thus allowed the tracing and functional manipulation of axonal projections from the latter input-defined neuronal population. Application of this tool in superior colliculus (SC) revealed that SC neuron subpopulations receiving corticocollicular projections from auditory and visual cortex specifically drove flight and freezing, two different types of defense behavior, respectively. Such anterograde transsynaptic tagging is thus useful for forward screening of distinct functional neural pathways embedded in complex brain circuits.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/246d2622812a797eb15f9e305aec5a75f4fdf669