Sensing strategies for flight response in insect

Husna, Amity University Kolkata

What is the functional morphology of the wings of an insect?

Wings in insects help for flight response in them by generating forces and they are also sensory structures, which play a very important role in providing rapid feedback about wing bending that is used to stabilize flight. Though enough information is present on how the wing structure affects aerodynamic performance, the role of wing structure as sensors is unexplored. Sensory receptors convert stimuli into electrical signals and this sensory feedback in animals including insects helps them to generate accurate and reliable movements. Most flying insects have strain-sensitive neurons that are present on their wings. These neurons provide feedback rapidly for stable flight control. Hence, it’s important to explore the role of wings as sensors.

Recent Study (2021): 

Recently, researchers have examined how the wing structure of an insect could impact sensing strategies and performance. They used a computational model inspired by the wings of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta. The model had a flapping wing with varying flexural stiffness for analyzing how sensing strategies rely on wing stiffness and sensory-based neurons. 

• The researchers placed neural sensors on a flapping wing to detect body rotation about different axes. Their main aim was to find a minimal set of strain-encoding, spiking mechanosensors on the wing that are effective for detecting body rotation. A small set of mechanosensory receptors that conveyed strain information was present in the primary area. These receptors helped to accurately detect body rotation. Adaptive sensors were found either at the tip or base of the wing. This location was based on wing stiffness and sensor properties. 
• Strain data was noted in two situations: one when the wing was flapping, and another when the body was undergoing rotation while the wing was flapping. The accuracy of results and the response in different perturbations (stressful atmosphere), were determined as well. They tested with two types of stressful conditions which can disrupt flight: sensor loss and external disturbances. Sensor loss might arise due to damages in the wing sustained over an animal’s lifetime or due to sensor failure in engineered systems. 
• Previous research assumed sensors that directly sense strain, to be a continuous variable. In contrast, this study has used spiking neural sensors which are more beneficial to biological systems. Primary sensory neurons on the wing can encode information in all-or-none action potentials only. However, spiking sensors can even transmit temporally sparse signals

Significance of the study: 

1. The study has shown how the structural properties of the wing and mechanosensory neurons interact for evaluating ideal strategies for sensing and performance. Thus, body rotations depend jointly on wing stiffness and neural threshold. 
2. It was revealed that body rotations could be detected accurately even in harsh conditions, only by a small number of sensors present on the wing.
3. Moreover, sensing performance is extremely strong and robust to deal with multiple kinds of stressful situations including perturbations
4. The interaction between wing structure and neurons traces their joint evolution.
5. Spiking neural sensors utilized in this study could provide opportunities for more well-organized and efficient sensing approaches.

Also read: Evolution of adaptive traits – Natural Selection?

Reference: Weber, A. I., Daniel, T. L., & Brunton, B. W. (2021). Wing structure and neural encoding jointly determine sensing strategies in insect flight. PLOS Computational Biology, 17(8), e1009195. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009195

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Author’s info: Husna is a final year student of BTech Biotechnology at Amity University Kolkata. She is a research enthusiast in Immunology and Immunotherapy but she has a keen interest in various other Bioscience subjects as well. She is constantly focused on improving her knowledge and laboratory skills through various internships. She is a Scientific content writer who has knowledge in diverse backgrounds of Biotechnology.