Walking is a complex motor behavior that demands sequential and periodic
contraction of muscles essential for coordinated control of leg movements. In Drosophila, the neuronal connectivity of motor neurons, their structural organization and axonal projections to the leg muscles is well established  both in larval and adult stages (Brierley et al.,2009, 2011). However, the identity and functional circuit features of the premotor interneurons that control leg motor neuron activity is poorly understood. Aim of my study is to investigate the role pre-motor interneurons in regulation of walking.

To achieve this, we have developed a novel algorithm for the automated analysis of leg motion to characterize the walking parameters of wildtype flies from high speed video recordings. We find that perturbing the pre-motor interneuronal inputs to motor neurons results in walking defects and slower walking speed. Together, our findings indicate the role of pre-motor interneurons in regulating speed of walking in adult Drosophila.