An animal at rest or engaged in stationary behaviors can instantaneously initiate goal-directed walking. How descending brain inputs trigger rapid transitions from a non-walking state to an appropriate walking state is unclear. Here, we identify two neuronal types, P9 and BPN, in the Drosophila brain that, upon activation, initiate and maintain two distinct coordinated walking patterns. P9 drives forward walking with ipsilateral turning, receives inputs from central courtship-promoting neurons and visual projection neurons, and is necessary for a male to pursue a female during courtship. In contrast, BPN drives straight, forward walking and is not required during courtship. BPN is instead recruited during and required for fast, straight, forward walking bouts. Thus, this study reveals separate brain pathways for object-directed walking and fast, straight, forward walking, providing insight into how the brain initiates context-appropriate walking programs.

静止或从事静止行为的动物可以立即启动目标导向的步行。下降的大脑输入如何触发从非步行状态到适当步行状态的快速转换尚不清楚。在这里，我们确定了果蝇中的两种神经元类型，P9 和 BPN大脑，一旦激活，就会启动并维持两种不同的协调行走模式。P9 通过同侧转向驱动向前行走，接收来自中央求偶促进神经元和视觉投射神经元的输入，并且是男性在求爱期间追求女性所必需的。相比之下，BPN 可以直行向前行走，在求爱过程中不需要。相反，BPN 在快速、笔直、向前的步行比赛中被招募并需要。因此，这项研究揭示了面向对象的步行和快速、笔直、向前行走的独立大脑通路，从而深入了解大脑如何启动适合环境的步行程序。