Differential topographic organization and retinal inheritance of direction and orientation selectivity in the visual thalamus

The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus, a major retinal target, processes and relays visual information, including direction selectivity (DS) and orientation selectivity (OS). However, the organization of DS and OS in the LGN, including the extent to which the information is directly inherited from the retina or generated within the LGN, remains poorly understood. Using high-density recordings from across the mouse LGN, we reveal two distinct organization patterns: LGN DS responses are scarce in the central visual field and are topographically aligned to translatory optic flow dynamics around it, whereas OS responses span the visual field. In transgenic mice lacking retinal DS, we find that only LGN DS, but not LGN OS responses are eliminated. Our results suggest that LGN DS is inherited from the retina, although the retinogeniculate transfer is topography-dependent and potentially optimized for representations that support visually-guided behaviors.