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Olfactory Information

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olfactory information

Discover seminars, jobs, and research tagged with olfactory information across World Wide.
2 curated items2 Seminars
Updated about 3 years ago
2 items · olfactory information
2 results
SeminarNeuroscience

Hunger state-dependent modulation of decision-making in larval Drosophila

Katrin Vogt
University of Konstanz
Oct 24, 2022

It is critical for all animals to make appropriate, but also flexible, foraging decisions, especially when facing starvation. Sensing olfactory information is essential to evaluate food quality before ingestion. Previously, we found that <i>Drosophila</i> larvae switch their response to certain odors from aversion to attraction when food deprived. The neural mechanism underlying this switch in behavior involves serotonergic modulation and reconfiguration of odor processing in the early olfactory sensory system. We now investigate if a change in hunger state also influences other behavioral decisions. Since it had been shown that fly larvae can perform cannibalism, we investigate the effect of food deprivation on feeding on dead conspecifics. We find that fed fly larvae rarely use dead conspecifics as a food source. However, food deprivation largely enhances this behavior. We will now also investigate the underlying neural mechanisms that mediate this enhancement and compare it to the already described mechanism for a switch in olfactory choice behavior. Generally, this flexibility in foraging behavior enables the larva to explore a broader range of stimuli and to expand their feeding choices to overcome starvation.

SeminarNeuroscience

Modulation of primary olfactory information by cortical feedback: experimental and modeling insights

Christiane Linster
Cornell University, Ithaca
Oct 31, 2021