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SeminarPast EventNeuroscience

Functional and structural loci of individuality in the Drosophila olfactory circuit

Benjamin de Bivort

Prof

Harvard University

Schedule
Thursday, October 8, 2020

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Schedule

Thursday, October 8, 2020

2:00 PM Europe/Lisbon

Host: Champalimaud Colloquia

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Event Information

Domain

Neuroscience

Original Event

View source

Host

Champalimaud Colloquia

Duration

70 minutes

Abstract

Behavior varies even among genetically identical animals raised in the same environment. However, little is known about the circuit or anatomical underpinnings of this individuality, though previous work implicates sensory periphery. Drosophila olfaction presents an ideal model to study the biological basis of behavioral individuality, because while the neural circuit underlying olfactory behavior is well-described and highly stereotyped, persistent idiosyncrasy in behavior, neural coding, and neural wiring have also been described. Projection neurons (PNs), which relay odor signals sensed by olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) to deeper brain structures, exhibit variable calcium responses to identical odor stimuli across individuals, but how these idiosyncrasies relate to individual behavioral responses remains unknown. Here, using paired behavior and two-photon imaging measurements, we show that idiosyncratic calcium dynamics in both ORNs and PNs predict individual preferences for an aversive monomolecular odorant versus air, suggesting that variation at the periphery of the olfactory system determines individual preference for an odor’s presence. In contrast, PN, but not ORN, calcium responses predict individual preferences in a two-odor choice assay. Furthermore, paired behavior and immunohistochemistry measurements reveal that variation in ORN presynaptic density also predicts two-odor preference, suggesting this site is a locus of individuality where microscale circuit variation gives rise to idiosyncrasy in behavior. Our results demonstrate how a neural circuit may vary functionally and structurally to produce variable behavior among individuals.

Topics

behaviourbehavioural individualitycalcium dynamicsdrosophilamonomolecular odorantolfactory circuitolfactory receptor neuronspresynaptic densityprojection neuronstwo-photon imaging

About the Speaker

Benjamin de Bivort

Prof

Harvard University

Contact & Resources

Personal Website

lab.debivort.org

@debivort

Follow on Twitter/X

twitter.com/debivort

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