This dataset, along with the corresponding code, is a supplement to “Disrupting cortico-cerebellar communication impairs dexterity” (Guo*, Sauerbrei* et al., eLife 2021). It consists of single-unit electrophysiology data from the pontine nuclei, Purkinje cells, cerebellar nuclei, and motor cortex of awake mice, along with measurements of the hand position of mice performing reaching movements.

These data address the question of how the dynamics of motor cortex and cerebellum interact to control skilled reaching. First, we recorded from neurons in the pontine nuclei (PN), the bridge between cerebral cortex and the cerebellum, as mice reached to and grasped food pellets. Most PN neurons were strongly modulated by an acoustic go cue, by movement onset, or by both. Optogenetic stimulation of the PN strongly entrained spiking in Purkinje cells and the cerebellar nuclei, and induced transients in some motor cortical neurons. PN stimulation during a reach-to-grasp task induced a range of deficits, including decreases in success rate, increases in the standard deviation of hand position, increases in movement duration, and overreaching of the target. During movement, PN stimulation altered neural activity in the cerebellar nuclei and motor cortex, and a velocity decoding analysis revealed that these shifts in activity were consistent with the kinematic effects of stimulation. Our findings suggest that interaction between motor cortex and the cerebellum is essential for fine-tuning movements to enable accurate and precise behavior.

Code required to generate the figures is available in the companion repository on Zenodo, and a list of which scripts generate which figure panels is contained in /docs/README.

Experimental and data processing methods are described in detail in Guo*, Sauerbrei* et al. (eLife 2021).