Stability of Olfactory Behavior Syndromes in the Drosophila Larva

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth R. Odell ◽  
David Clark ◽  
Dennis Mathew
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eryn Slankster ◽  
Sai Kollala ◽  
Dominique Baria ◽  
Brianna Dailey-Krempel ◽  
Roshni Jain ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eryn Slankster ◽  
Sai Kollala ◽  
Dominique Baria ◽  
Brianna Dailey-Krempel ◽  
Roshni Jain ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTStarvation enhances olfactory sensitivity that encourage animals to search for food. The molecular mechanisms that enable sensory neurons to remain flexible and adapt to a particular internal state remain poorly understood. Here, we study the roles of GABA and insulin signaling in starvation-dependent modulation of olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) function in the Drosophila larva. We show that GABAB-receptor and insulin-receptor are necessary for OSN modulation. Using a novel OSN-specific gene expression analysis, we explore downstream targets of insulin signaling in OSNs. Our results strongly suggest that insulin and GABA signaling pathways interact within OSNs and modulate OSN function by impacting olfactory information processing and neurotransmission. We further show that manipulating these signaling pathways specifically in the OSNs impact larval feeding behavior and its body weight. These results challenge the prevailing model of OSN modulation and highlight opportunities to better understand OSN modulation mechanisms and their relationship to animal physiology.


Horticulturae ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Tae-Kwon Son ◽  
Md Munir Mostafiz ◽  
Hwal-Su Hwang ◽  
Nguyen Truong Thạnh ◽  
Kyeong-Yeoll Lee

In various orchard fruit trees, thinning of blossoms and fruits is important to increase fruit size and quality and to promote a new bloom in the following season. Several chemical thinning agents are currently commercially available, but they are inconsistent and produce side effects in crop plants and insect pollinators. Because of environmental concerns, developing alternative eco-friendly bloom thinning agents is necessary. We developed an eco-friendly bloom thinning formulation (BTF) using minerals and extracts of various medicinal plants. Our BTF spray (0.1%, <i>w/v</i>) decreased the number of fruits per tree (46.5%) and fruit yield per tree (81.5%) but increased the fruit weight (196.8%) compared with the control treatment; the spray induced a small number of larger mango fruits in the treated trees. We also investigated the effect of BTF on the olfactory behavior of <i>Apis mellifera</i> L. (Hymenoptera, Apidae), a major insect pollinator. We analyzed the behavioral changes of adult workers at two different concentrations (0.1% and 1%) of nine different BTF spray components using a Y-tube olfactometer. The behavioral responses of honey bees to nine BTF components showed significant differences. However, honey bees showed no clear attraction or repellent behavior towards the tested BTF components. Our results suggest that the newly developed eco-friendly BTF is practically applicable in mango orchards without interrupting honey bee behavior.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Swetha B. M. Gowda ◽  
Safa Salim ◽  
Farhan Mohammad

The control of movements is a fundamental feature shared by all animals. At the most basic level, simple movements are generated by coordinated neural activity and muscle contraction patterns that are controlled by the central nervous system. How behavioral responses to various sensory inputs are processed and integrated by the downstream neural network to produce flexible and adaptive behaviors remains an intense area of investigation in many laboratories. Due to recent advances in experimental techniques, many fundamental neural pathways underlying animal movements have now been elucidated. For example, while the role of motor neurons in locomotion has been studied in great detail, the roles of interneurons in animal movements in both basic and noxious environments have only recently been realized. However, the genetic and transmitter identities of many of these interneurons remains unclear. In this review, we provide an overview of the underlying circuitry and neural pathways required by Drosophila larvae to produce successful movements. By improving our understanding of locomotor circuitry in model systems such as Drosophila, we will have a better understanding of how neural circuits in organisms with different bodies and brains lead to distinct locomotion types at the organism level. The understanding of genetic and physiological components of these movements types also provides directions to understand movements in higher organisms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 383 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-123
Author(s):  
Sudeshna Das Chakraborty ◽  
Silke Sachse

AbstractSensing olfactory signals in the environment represents a crucial and significant task of sensory systems in almost all organisms to facilitate survival and reproduction. Notably, the olfactory system of diverse animal phyla shares astonishingly many fundamental principles with regard to anatomical and functional properties. Binding of odor ligands by chemosensory receptors present in the olfactory peripheral organs leads to a neuronal activity that is conveyed to first and higher-order brain centers leading to a subsequent odor-guided behavioral decision. One of the key centers for integrating and processing innate olfactory behavior is the lateral horn (LH) of the protocerebrum in insects. In recent years the LH of Drosophila has garnered increasing attention and many studies have been dedicated to elucidate its circuitry. In this review we will summarize the recent advances in mapping and characterizing LH-specific cell types, their functional properties with respect to odor tuning, their neurotransmitter profiles, their connectivity to pre-synaptic and post-synaptic partner neurons as well as their impact for olfactory behavior as known so far.


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