Distinct processing of visual motion by transcriptomic cell types in the superior colliculus
- 1University of Virginia
Abstract
How the brain organizes visual processing across distinct neuron types is a fundamental yet unresolved question. Here we study how visual motion is processed by transcriptomically defined cell types in the superior colliculus (SC). We generated or identified transgenic mouse lines to target three transcriptomic types of neurons in the superficial SC, the Cbln4+, Vip+, and Grp+ neurons. We find that each of these cell types encodes distinct ranges of stimulus direction, speed, size, and spatial and temporal features. In response to ecologically relevant visual flows, the three cell types occupy partitional spaces in the encoding manifold. The three cell types also show unique morphology and connectivity, including their retinal and intracollicular input and projection patterns. Together, these results reveal a genetic logic for visual motion processing in the SC, where transcriptomic cell types are likely the basic computational units with their specific feature selectivity, morphology, and input-output connectivity.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026distinct,
title = {{Distinct processing of visual motion by transcriptomic cell types in the superior colliculus}},
author = {C. Chen and Y. Liu and D. G. Eaves and C. I. Lagas and J. Ren and A. Kipcak and H. Chen and A. Erisir and J. Cang},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.30.762788},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.30.762788v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Distinct processing of visual motion by transcriptomic cell types in the superior colliculus
AU - C. Chen
AU - Y. Liu
AU - D. G. Eaves
AU - C. I. Lagas
AU - J. Ren
AU - A. Kipcak
AU - H. Chen
AU - A. Erisir
AU - J. Cang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.30.762788
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.30.762788v1
AB - How the brain organizes visual processing across distinct neuron types is a fundamental yet unresolved question. Here we study how visual motion is processed by transcriptomically defined cell types in the superior colliculus (SC). We generated or identified transgenic mouse lines to target three transcriptomic types of neurons in the superficial SC, the Cbln4+, Vip+, and Grp+ neurons. We find that each of these cell types encodes distinct ranges of stimulus direction, speed, size, and spatial and temporal features. In response to ecologically relevant visual flows, the three cell types occupy partitional spaces in the encoding manifold. The three cell types also show unique morphology and connectivity, including their retinal and intracollicular input and projection patterns. Together, these results reveal a genetic logic for visual motion processing in the SC, where transcriptomic cell types are likely the basic computational units with their specific feature selectivity, morphology, and input-output connectivity.
ER -