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Hamid A, Gattuso H, Caglar AN, Pillai M, Steele T, Gonzalez A, Nagel K, Syed MH. The conserved RNA-binding protein Imp is required for the specification and function of olfactory navigation circuitry in Drosophila. Curr Biol 2024; 34:473-488.e6. [PMID: 38181792 PMCID: PMC10872534 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Complex behaviors depend on the precise developmental specification of neuronal circuits, but the relationship between genetic programs for neural development, circuit structure, and behavioral output is often unclear. The central complex (CX) is a conserved sensory-motor integration center in insects, which governs many higher-order behaviors and largely derives from a small number of type II neural stem cells (NSCs). Here, we show that Imp, a conserved IGF-II mRNA-binding protein expressed in type II NSCs, plays a role in specifying essential components of CX olfactory navigation circuitry. We show the following: (1) that multiple components of olfactory navigation circuitry arise from type II NSCs. (2) Manipulating Imp expression in type II NSCs alters the number and morphology of many of these circuit elements, with the most potent effects on neurons targeting the ventral layers of the fan-shaped body (FB). (3) Imp regulates the specification of Tachykinin-expressing ventral FB input neurons. (4) Imp is required in type II NSCs for establishing proper morphology of the CX neuropil structures. (5) Loss of Imp in type II NSCs abolishes upwind orientation to attractive odor while leaving locomotion and odor-evoked regulation of movement intact. Taken together, our findings establish that a temporally expressed gene can regulate the expression of a complex behavior by developmentally regulating the specification of multiple circuit components and provides a first step toward a developmental dissection of the CX and its roles in behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aisha Hamid
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 219 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Hannah Gattuso
- Neuroscience Institute, NYU Medical Center, 435 E 30th St., New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Aysu Nora Caglar
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 219 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Midhula Pillai
- Neuroscience Institute, NYU Medical Center, 435 E 30th St., New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Theresa Steele
- Neuroscience Institute, NYU Medical Center, 435 E 30th St., New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Alexa Gonzalez
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 219 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Katherine Nagel
- Neuroscience Institute, NYU Medical Center, 435 E 30th St., New York, NY 10016, USA.
| | - Mubarak Hussain Syed
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 219 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
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2
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Szyszka P, Emonet T, Edwards TL. Extracting spatial information from temporal odor patterns: insights from insects. Curr Opin Insect Sci 2023; 59:101082. [PMID: 37419251 PMCID: PMC10878403 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2023.101082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
Extracting spatial information from temporal stimulus patterns is essential for sensory perception (e.g. visual motion direction detection or concurrent sound segregation), but this process remains understudied in olfaction. Animals rely on olfaction to locate resources and dangers. In open environments, where odors are dispersed by turbulent wind, detection of wind direction seems crucial for odor source localization. However, recent studies showed that insects can extract spatial information from the odor stimulus itself, independently from sensing wind direction. This remarkable ability is achieved by detecting the fine-scale temporal pattern of odor encounters, which contains information about the location and size of an odor source, and the distance between different odor sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Szyszka
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
| | - Thierry Emonet
- Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, USA
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3
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Aso Y, Yamada D, Bushey D, Hibbard KL, Sammons M, Otsuna H, Shuai Y, Hige T. Neural circuit mechanisms for transforming learned olfactory valences into wind-oriented movement. eLife 2023; 12:e85756. [PMID: 37721371 PMCID: PMC10588983 DOI: 10.7554/elife.85756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
How memories are used by the brain to guide future action is poorly understood. In olfactory associative learning in Drosophila, multiple compartments of the mushroom body act in parallel to assign a valence to a stimulus. Here, we show that appetitive memories stored in different compartments induce different levels of upwind locomotion. Using a photoactivation screen of a new collection of split-GAL4 drivers and EM connectomics, we identified a cluster of neurons postsynaptic to the mushroom body output neurons (MBONs) that can trigger robust upwind steering. These UpWind Neurons (UpWiNs) integrate inhibitory and excitatory synaptic inputs from MBONs of appetitive and aversive memory compartments, respectively. After formation of appetitive memory, UpWiNs acquire enhanced response to reward-predicting odors as the response of the inhibitory presynaptic MBON undergoes depression. Blocking UpWiNs impaired appetitive memory and reduced upwind locomotion during retrieval. Photoactivation of UpWiNs also increased the chance of returning to a location where activation was terminated, suggesting an additional role in olfactory navigation. Thus, our results provide insight into how learned abstract valences are gradually transformed into concrete memory-driven actions through divergent and convergent networks, a neuronal architecture that is commonly found in the vertebrate and invertebrate brains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshinori Aso
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Daichi Yamada
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUnited States
| | - Daniel Bushey
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Karen L Hibbard
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Megan Sammons
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Hideo Otsuna
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Yichun Shuai
- Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical InstituteAshburnUnited States
| | - Toshihide Hige
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUnited States
- Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUnited States
- Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUnited States
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4
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Raithel CU, Miller AJ, Epstein RA, Kahnt T, Gottfried JA. Recruitment of grid-like responses in human entorhinal and piriform cortices by odor landmark-based navigation. Curr Biol 2023; 33:3561-3570.e4. [PMID: 37506703 PMCID: PMC10510564 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
Olfactory navigation is universal across the animal kingdom. Humans, however, have rarely been considered in this context. Here, we combined olfactometry techniques, virtual reality (VR) software, and neuroimaging methods to investigate whether humans can navigate an olfactory landscape by learning the spatial relationships among discrete odor cues and integrating this knowledge into a spatial map. Our data show that over time, participants improved their performance on the odor navigation task by taking more direct paths toward targets and completing more trials within a given time period. This suggests that humans can successfully navigate a complex odorous environment, reinforcing the notion of human olfactory navigation. fMRI data collected during the olfactory navigation task revealed the emergence of grid-like responses in entorhinal and piriform cortices that were attuned to the same grid orientation. This result implies the existence of a specialized olfactory grid network tasked with guiding spatial navigation based on odor landmarks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara U Raithel
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3450 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, 3450 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Alexander J Miller
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, 3450 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Russell A Epstein
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3450 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Thorsten Kahnt
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
| | - Jay A Gottfried
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3450 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, 3450 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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5
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Abstract
Computational model reveals why pausing to sniff the air helps animals track a scent when they are far away from the source.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Brudner
- Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and the Quantitative Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, United States
| | - Thierry Emonet
- Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, the Quantitative Biology Institute, and the Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, United States
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6
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Rigolli N, Reddy G, Seminara A, Vergassola M. Alternation emerges as a multi-modal strategy for turbulent odor navigation. eLife 2022; 11:e76989. [PMID: 35996954 PMCID: PMC9489216 DOI: 10.7554/elife.76989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Foraging mammals exhibit a familiar yet poorly characterized phenomenon, 'alternation', a pause to sniff in the air preceded by the animal rearing on its hind legs or raising its head. Rodents spontaneously alternate in the presence of airflow, suggesting that alternation serves an important role during plume-tracking. To test this hypothesis, we combine fully resolved simulations of turbulent odor transport and Bellman optimization methods for decision-making under partial observability. We show that an agent trained to minimize search time in a realistic odor plume exhibits extensive alternation together with the characteristic cast-and-surge behavior observed in insects. Alternation is linked with casting and occurs more frequently far downwind of the source, where the likelihood of detecting airborne cues is higher relative to ground cues. Casting and alternation emerge as complementary tools for effective exploration with sparse cues. A model based on marginal value theory captures the interplay between casting, surging, and alternation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Rigolli
- MalGa, Department of Civil, Chemical and Mechanical Engineering, University of GenovaGenovaItaly
- Institut de Physique de Nice, Université Côte d’Azur, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueNiceFrance
- Department of Physics and INFN Genova, University of GenovaGenovaItaly
| | - Gautam Reddy
- NSF-Simons Center for Mathematical and Statistical Analysis of Biology, Harvard UniversityCambridgeUnited States
- Physics & Informatics Laboratories, NTT Research, IncSunnyvaleUnited States
- Center for Brain Science, Harvard UniversityCambridgeUnited States
| | - Agnese Seminara
- MalGa, Department of Civil, Chemical and Mechanical Engineering, University of GenovaGenovaItaly
- Institut de Physique de Nice, Université Côte d’Azur, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueNiceFrance
| | - Massimo Vergassola
- Laboratoire de physique de l’École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, PSL Research University, Sorbonne UniversitéParisFrance
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Yamada M, Ohashi H, Hosoda K, Kurabayashi D, Shigaki S. Multisensory-motor integration in olfactory navigation of silkmoth, Bombyx mori, using virtual reality system. eLife 2021; 10:72001. [PMID: 34822323 PMCID: PMC8629422 DOI: 10.7554/elife.72001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Most animals survive and thrive due to navigational behavior to reach their destinations. In order to navigate, it is important for animals to integrate information obtained from multisensory inputs and use that information to modulate their behavior. In this study, by using a virtual reality (VR) system for an insect, we investigated how the adult silkmoth integrates visual and wind direction information during female search behavior (olfactory behavior). According to the behavioral experiments using a VR system, the silkmoth had the highest navigational success rate when odor, vision, and wind information were correctly provided. However, the success rate of the search was reduced if the wind direction information provided was different from the direction actually detected. This indicates that it is important to acquire not only odor information but also wind direction information correctly. When the wind is received from the same direction as the odor, the silkmoth takes positive behavior; if the odor is detected but the wind direction is not in the same direction as the odor, the silkmoth behaves more carefully. This corresponds to a modulation of behavior according to the degree of complexity (turbulence) of the environment. We mathematically modeled the modulation of behavior using multisensory information and evaluated it using simulations. The mathematical model not only succeeded in reproducing the actual silkmoth search behavior but also improved the search success relative to the conventional odor-source search algorithm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayu Yamada
- Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Hirono Ohashi
- Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Koh Hosoda
- Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Daisuke Kurabayashi
- Department of Systems and Control Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shunsuke Shigaki
- Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
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Lewis SM, Xu L, Rigolli N, Tariq MF, Suarez LM, Stern M, Seminara A, Gire DH. Plume Dynamics Structure the Spatiotemporal Activity of Mitral/Tufted Cell Networks in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb. Front Cell Neurosci 2021; 15:633757. [PMID: 34012385 PMCID: PMC8127944 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2021.633757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although mice locate resources using turbulent airborne odor plumes, the stochasticity and intermittency of fluctuating plumes create challenges for interpreting odor cues in natural environments. Population activity within the olfactory bulb (OB) is thought to process this complex spatial and temporal information, but how plume dynamics impact odor representation in this early stage of the mouse olfactory system is unknown. Limitations in odor detection technology have made it difficult to measure plume fluctuations while simultaneously recording from the mouse's brain. Thus, previous studies have measured OB activity following controlled odor pulses of varying profiles or frequencies, but this approach only captures a subset of features found within olfactory plumes. Adequately sampling this feature space is difficult given a lack of knowledge regarding which features the brain extracts during exposure to natural olfactory scenes. Here we measured OB responses to naturally fluctuating odor plumes using a miniature, adapted odor sensor combined with wide-field GCaMP6f signaling from the dendrites of mitral and tufted (MT) cells imaged in olfactory glomeruli of head-fixed mice. We precisely tracked plume dynamics and imaged glomerular responses to this fluctuating input, while varying flow conditions across a range of ethologically-relevant values. We found that a consistent portion of MT activity in glomeruli follows odor concentration dynamics, and the strongest responding glomeruli are the best at following fluctuations within odor plumes. Further, the reliability and average response magnitude of glomerular populations of MT cells are affected by the flow condition in which the animal samples the plume, with the fidelity of plume following by MT cells increasing in conditions of higher flow velocity where odor dynamics result in intermittent whiffs of stronger concentration. Thus, the flow environment in which an animal encounters an odor has a large-scale impact on the temporal representation of an odor plume in the OB. Additionally, across flow conditions odor dynamics are a major driver of activity in many glomerular networks. Taken together, these data demonstrate that plume dynamics structure olfactory representations in the first stage of odor processing in the mouse olfactory system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzanne M. Lewis
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Lai Xu
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Nicola Rigolli
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Genova, Universitá di Genova, Genova, Italy
- CNRS, Institut de Physique de Nice, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
| | - Mohammad F. Tariq
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Lucas M. Suarez
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Merav Stern
- Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Agnese Seminara
- CNRS, Institut de Physique de Nice, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
| | - David H. Gire
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
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9
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Abstract
Human navigation relies on inputs to our paired eyes and ears. Although we also have two nasal passages, there has been little empirical indication that internostril differences yield directionality in human olfaction without involving the trigeminal system. By using optic flow that captures the pattern of apparent motion of surface elements in a visual scene, we demonstrate through formal psychophysical testing that a moderate binaral concentration disparity of a nontrigeminal odorant consistently biases recipients' perceived direction of self-motion toward the higher-concentration side, despite that they cannot verbalize which nostril smells a stronger odor. We further show that the effect depends on the internostril ratio of odor concentrations and not the numeric difference in concentration between the two nostrils. Taken together, our findings provide behavioral evidence that humans smell in stereo and subconsciously utilize stereo olfactory cues in spatial navigation.
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Baker KL, Dickinson M, Findley TM, Gire DH, Louis M, Suver MP, Verhagen JV, Nagel KI, Smear MC. Algorithms for Olfactory Search across Species. J Neurosci 2018; 38:9383-9. [PMID: 30381430 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1668-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2018] [Revised: 09/15/2018] [Accepted: 09/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Localizing the sources of stimuli is essential. Most organisms cannot eat, mate, or escape without knowing where the relevant stimuli originate. For many, if not most, animals, olfaction plays an essential role in search. While microorganismal chemotaxis is relatively well understood, in larger animals the algorithms and mechanisms of olfactory search remain mysterious. In this symposium, we will present recent advances in our understanding of olfactory search in flies and rodents. Despite their different sizes and behaviors, both species must solve similar problems, including meeting the challenges of turbulent airflow, sampling the environment to optimize olfactory information, and incorporating odor information into broader navigational systems.
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Bao X, Gjorgieva E, Shanahan LK, Howard JD, Kahnt T, Gottfried JA. Grid-like Neural Representations Support Olfactory Navigation of a Two-Dimensional Odor Space. Neuron 2019; 102:1066-1075.e5. [PMID: 31023509 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.03.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2018] [Revised: 10/28/2018] [Accepted: 03/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Searching for food, friends, and mates often begins with an airborne scent. Importantly, odor concentration rises with physical proximity to an odorous source, suggesting a framework for orienting within olfactory landscapes to optimize behavior. Here, we created a two-dimensional odor space composed purely of odor stimuli to model how a navigator encounters smells in a natural environment. We show that human subjects can learn to navigate in olfactory space and form predictions of to-be-encountered smells. During navigation, fMRI responses in entorhinal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex take the form of grid-like representations with hexagonal periodicity and entorhinal grid strength scaled with behavioral performance across subjects. The identification of olfactory grid-like codes with 6-fold symmetry highlights a unique neural mechanism by which odor information can be assembled into spatially navigable cognitive maps, optimizing orientation, and path finding toward an odor source.
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