Cell-type-specific binocular vision guides predation in mice.
Predators use vision to hunt, and hunting success is one of evolution's main selection pressures. However, how viewing strategies and visual systems are adapted to predation is unclear. Tracking predator-prey interactions of mice and crickets in 3D, we find that mice trace crickets with their binocular visual fields and that monocular mice are poor hunters. Mammalian binocular vision requires ipsi- and contralateral projections of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) to the brain. Large-scale single-cell recordings and morphological reconstructions reveal that only a small subset (9 of 40+) of RGC types in the ventrotemporal mouse retina innervate ipsilateral brain areas (ipsi-RGCs). Selective ablation of ipsi-RGCs (<2% of RGCs) in the adult retina drastically reduces the hunting success of mice. Stimuli based on ethological observations indicate that five ipsi-RGC types reliably signal prey. Thus, viewing strategies align with a spatially restricted and cell-type-specific set of ipsi-RGCs that supports binocular vision to guide predation.
['Johnson|Keith P|KP|', 'Fitzpatrick|Michael J|MJ|', 'Zhao|Lei|L|', 'Wang|Bing|B|', 'McCracken|Sean|S|', 'Williams|Philip R|PR|', 'Kerschensteiner|Daniel|D|']
D000818:Animals D003867:Depth Perception D007839:Functional Laterality D051379:Mice D011235:Predatory Behavior D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells D015348:Vision, Binocular D014795:Visual Pathways
hunting ganglion cell retina depth perception ipsilateral projection prey capture stereopsis