Wing stroke kinematics and its independent components in Drosophila melanogaster

This dataset includes preprocessed kinematic data (Signals.mat), the MATLAB code for the computational analysis described in the accompanying paper (MATLAB_code.zip), and the results of the analysis (Components.mat). Using a high-speed computer vision system, we recorded the wing motion of tethered flying fruit flies for up to 12 000 consecutive wing strokes at a sampling rate of 6250 Hz. We then decomposed the joint motion pattern of both wings into components that had the minimal mutual information (a measure of statistical dependence). In 100 flight segments measured from 10 individual flies, we identified 7 distinct types of frequently occurring least-dependent components, each defining a kinematic pattern (a specific deformation of the wing stroke and the sequence of its activation from cycle to cycle). Two of these stroke deformations can be associated with the control of yaw torque and total flight force, respectively. A third deformation involves a change in the downstroke-to-upstroke duration ratio, which is expected to alter the pitch torque. A fourth kinematic pattern consists in the alteration of stroke amplitude with a period of 2 wingbeat cycles, extending for dozens of cycles. Our analysis indicates that these four elementary kinematic patterns can be activated mutually independently, and occur both in isolation and in linear superposition. The results strengthen the available evidence for independent control of yaw torque, pitch torque, and total flight force. Our computational method facilitates systematic identification of novel patterns in large kinematic datasets.

For details of the experimental procedure, data preprocessing and computational analysis, see: Chakraborty S, Bartussek J, Fry SN, Zapotocky M (2015) Independently Controlled Wing Stroke Patterns in the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster. PLOS ONE 10(2): e0116813. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0116813.