Mechanism of barotaxis in marine zooplankton

Abstract Hydrostatic pressure is a dominant environmental cue for vertically migrating marine organisms but the physiological mechanisms of responding to pressure changes remain unclear. Here we uncovered the cellular and circuit bases of a barokinetic response in the planktonic larva of the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii. Increases in pressure induced a rapid, graded and adapting upward swimming response due to faster ciliary beating. By calcium imaging, we found that brain ciliary photoreceptors showed a graded response to pressure changes. The photoreceptors in animals mutant for ciliary opsin-1 had a smaller ciliary compartment and mutant larvae showed diminished pressure responses. The ciliary photoreceptors synaptically connect to the head multiciliary band that propels swimming via serotonergic motoneurons. Genetic inhibition of the serotonergic cells blocked pressure-dependent increases in ciliary beating. We conclude that ciliary photoreceptors function as pressure sensors and activate ciliary beating through serotonergic signalling during barokinesis.