Colour Vision: Self-Centered Fly Photoreceptors Communicate over Distances

Abstract

A new study shows that the synaptically interconnected axon terminals of colour-sensitive fly photoreceptors that sample the same point in visual space receive additional inhibition from surrounding units; the resulting additional chromatic comparisons result in an optimal decorrelation of photoreceptor inputs. There are striking parallels between newly identified horizontal interactions and those mediated by mammalian horizontal cells.