Topic: fruitfly connectomes

Olfactory Receptor Neurons (ORNs) in insects are tightly packed into sensory hairs (sensilla), where they are electrically coupled. This organization is highly stereotyped and genetically determined. Electrical (`ephaptic') coupling between neurons within the same hair results in strong lateral inhibition, posing questions about the functional significance of the stereotyped organization. We developed a phenomenological model of coupled ORNs responding to odor mixture stimuli. Our model includes two forms of nonlinearity, essential to capture the nature of the coupling. First, ephaptic interac