Neural Circuits Underpinning state-dependent odor-taste Integration
1 University of Bonn
Animals, including humans, detect and process chemical cues in the environment to identify potential food sources and harmful substances, conspecifics, and predators. In Drosophila melanogaster, extensive research has been conducted on sensing odor and taste, yet what remains unclear is how concurrent information from both modalities is processed. We expect a high degree of interconnectivity in the chemosensory network and potentially a subset of neurons responsible for the integration. An area of interest emerged from previous research conducted in the group employing a paradigm to image the entire brain of flies during exposure to olfactory and gustatory cues. The area was named “Gnathal-Ganglia-paired” (GNG-paired) and seemed to respond only to multimodal stimulations. Through connectomics, I aim to characterize the GNG-paired. Next, I will screen candidate lines for the involvement of the targeted neurons in odor-taste integration using assays on the feeding behavior, which is a great example of behavior requiring chemosensory integration. In addition, I will perform 2-photon calcium imaging of the candidate neurons and characterize the modulatory effect of valence and internal states, such as the state of hunger, on integration. Here, I present the workflow of my project and preliminary results from the screening of lines targeting candidate neurons and tested in olfaction- and taste-based behavioral assays. Understanding how odor and taste are integrated in flies, and how valence, reliability, and relevance are assigned to the percept, will broaden our knowledge of the evolutionally conserved mechanism underlying our ability to feed and interact with our surroundings.