Molecular Architecture of Smell and Taste in<i>Drosophila</i>

Vosshall, Leslie B.; Stocker, Reinhard F.

doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.30.051606.094306

Cited by 800 publications

(840 citation statements)

References 141 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

826

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The TOG contains numerous gustatory receptors, and the DOG contains the olfactory receptors ( Fig. 3A) (20). One report suggested that the TOG contributes to cool avoidance based on calcium imaging with GCaMP and synaptic inactivation of neurons by using the GH86 promoter (13).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory determinants of behavioral dynamics in Drosophila thermotaxis

Klein

Afonso

Vonner

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

152

206

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Complex animal behaviors are built from dynamical relationships between sensory inputs, neuronal activity, and motor outputs in patterns with strategic value. Connecting these patterns illuminates how nervous systems compute behavior. Here, we study Drosophila larva navigation up temperature gradients toward preferred temperatures (positive thermotaxis). By tracking the movements of animals responding to fixed spatial temperature gradients or random temperature fluctuations, we calculate the sensitivity and dynamics of the conversion of thermosensory inputs into motor responses. We discover three thermosensory neurons in each dorsal organ ganglion (DOG) that are required for positive thermotaxis. Random optogenetic stimulation of the DOG thermosensory neurons evokes behavioral patterns that mimic the response to temperature variations. In vivo calcium and voltage imaging reveals that the DOG thermosensory neurons exhibit activity patterns with sensitivity and dynamics matched to the behavioral response. Temporal processing of temperature variations carried out by the DOG thermosensory neurons emerges in distinct motor responses during thermotaxis. N avigation toward environmental conditions that improve survival and fitness is of near-universal importance in motile biological organisms. Quantitative analysis of such animal behaviors to defined sensory inputs is a powerful approach to elucidate how behavior is encoded in underlying neurons and circuits. The advantage of studying navigation in small, optically transparent, genetically modifiable animals like Caenorhabditis elegans (1) or Drosophila larvae (2) is the opportunity to dissect sensory, neuronal, and behavioral dynamics in live animals by using optical neurophysiology and optogenetics throughout the nervous system.The Drosophila melanogaster larva navigates gradients of many sensory cues, including light, temperature, odors, and tastes, but with fewer neurons in its sensory periphery and brain than the adult. Moreover, the simpler body plan and crawling movements of the larva facilitate the precise quantification of behavioral dynamics. Poikilotherms like C. elegans or Drosophila use sensitive thermosensory mechanisms to navigate moderate temperature ranges, thereby enabling them to use their environments to regulate their own body temperatures (3, 4). Here, we study sensory and behavioral dynamics during positive thermotaxis (i.e., cool avoidance) by the Drosophila larva. Tracking the movements of Drosophila exploring temperature, olfactory, or gaseous gradients has shown that their navigation is generated by a sequence of two alternating motor programs: runs involving peristaltic forward movement that are interrupted by turns involving probing side-to-side head sweeps until the initiation of a new run (5-8). Larvae negotiating temperature gradients stochastically transition between runs and turns by strategies that cause runs pointed in favorable directions to be more frequent and longer than runs pointed in unfavorable directions. These transitions b...

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory determinants of behavioral dynamics in Drosophila thermotaxis

Klein

Afonso

Vonner

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

152

206

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…gambiae labellum harbours multiple functional types of ORNs, each expressing a different AgOR in addition to AgOR7, and this ensemble of ORNs expressing a combinatorial of over 20 AgORs converge on one or two medial glomeruli in the antennal lobe. This type of organisation represent a significant departure from established paradigms in the olfactory or gustatory system in insects where ORNs or gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) with different receptor profiles will converge onto distinct regions of the antennal lobe or the suboesophageal ganglion Zwiebel 2005, Vosshall andStocker 2007).…”

Section: Gambiae Exhibits Olfactory Responses Schematic Dorsal View mentioning

confidence: 95%

Olfaction in vector-host interactions

Takken¹,

Knols²

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Recent insights into the molecular and functional mechanisms of sensory perception in Drosophila have been achieved by the use of single-sensillum recordings of adult taste or olfactory sensilla 1,4,[8][9][10][11][12][13] . This method enables sensitive measurements of action potential patterns and shows whether responses are excitatory or inhibitory, but drawing final conclusions about the individual firing neuron is difficult, as each sensillum contains two to four neurons 14 . In the larva, multicellular electrophysiological measurements of the taste system have been performed, but this method is technically challenging and it is not clear how many taste neurons are housed in which sensillum 15 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A microfluidics-based method for measuring neuronal activity in Drosophila chemosensory neurons

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animals possess highly specialized sensory neurons that are capable of perceiving information about a continuously changing environment. Measuring neuronal activity in these cells is an important step toward understanding the basic coding principles, as well as the spatial and temporal dynamics, of sensory systems. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is widely used as a genetic model organism to uncover basic mechanisms of taste coding and odor perception [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] . Recent insights into the molecular and functional mechanisms of sensory perception in Drosophila have been achieved by the use of single-sensillum recordings of adult taste or olfactory sensilla 1,4,[8][9][10][11][12][13] . This method enables sensitive measurements of action potential patterns and shows whether responses are excitatory or inhibitory, but drawing final conclusions about the individual firing neuron is difficult, as each sensillum contains two to four neurons 14 . In the larva, multicellular electrophysiological measurements of the taste system have been performed, but this method is technically challenging and it is not clear how many taste neurons are housed in which sensillum 15 .Microfluidic devices have been used previously to image command interneurons (AVA) and sensory neurons (ASH) in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and for studies of axotomy in peripheral sensory neurons of Drosophila larvae [16][17][18] . To implement a similar strategy for Drosophila larval chemosensation, we developed a simple and widely applicable microfluidic chip. We used this custom-made microfluidic device to deliver precise and temporally restricted tastant stimulation in the first published physiological characterization of individual larval gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) expressing the calcium sensor GCaMP5 (ref. 19). Development of the protocolThe design of the chip is simple. It contains a single channel that is connected to a chamber in which the sample can be mounted to bring it into contact with fluids in the channel. The chamber was originally designed to exactly fit the head of a third-instar Drosophila larva; however, it is also suitable for the proboscis or the leg of an adult fly. The channel for delivering stimulants is relatively broad, designed at a width of 1 mm to reduce flow pressure on the sample. We use a single-channel system in which changes of liquids are performed by the tubing system outside the chip, allowing a relatively slow flow rate inside the chip. Here we provide information required for the design and production of this microfluidic device ( Fig. 1; Supplementary Data), as well as a detailed protocol for live imaging to acquire GCaMP-based calcium imaging (Figs. 2 and 3). By introducing the larval head, or the adult proboscis or leg, into the chamber, neuronal activity can be recorded while chemosensory neurons are in contact with the solution pumped through the channel (Figs. 2 and 3).Overview of the procedure An overview of the workflow involved in implementing the procedure is provided in Figu...

show abstract

Molecular Architecture of Smell and Taste inDrosophila

Cited by 800 publications

References 141 publications

Sensory determinants of behavioral dynamics in Drosophila thermotaxis

Sensory determinants of behavioral dynamics in Drosophila thermotaxis

Olfaction in vector-host interactions

A microfluidics-based method for measuring neuronal activity in Drosophila chemosensory neurons

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About