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| Open AccessDistinct information conveyed to the olfactory bulb by feedforward input from the nose and feedback from the cortex
How the feedforward information from the nose and feedback from the cortex interact in the olfactory bulb is not fully understood. Here, by imaging olfactory sensory neurons and cortical projections to the olfactory bulb, the authors show that sensory transformations contained within both streams.
- Joseph D. Zak
- , Gautam Reddy
- & Venkatesh N. Murthy
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Article
| Open AccessElevated ozone disrupts mating boundaries in drosophilid flies
Some atmospheric pollutants may disrupt chemical communication in insects. Here, the authors show that exposure to elevated ozone disrupts pheromone-mediated mate recognition and increases hybridization in laboratory colonies of four Drosophila species.
- Nan-Ji Jiang
- , Xinqi Dong
- & Markus Knaden
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| Open AccessPheromone-based communication influences the production of somatic extracellular vesicles in C. elegans
Extracellular vesicles are fundamental in cellular communication. Here, authors show how C. elegans pheromones regulate vesicle production, showcasing the impact of social behaviors on cellular mechanisms.
- Agata Szczepańska
- , Katarzyna Olek
- & Michał Turek
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| Open AccessEndogenous cannabinoids in the piriform cortex tune olfactory perception
Whether and how cannabinoid type-1 receptors impact sensory functions in vivo is largely unknown. Here, authors show that their endogenous activity controls network dynamics in the olfactory piriform cortex and the ability of mice to detect odorants.
- Geoffrey Terral
- , Evan Harrell
- & Lisa Roux
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| Open AccessSensorimotor transformation underlying odor-modulated locomotion in walking Drosophila
Animals find and stay close to resources by altering their locomotion in response to odors that signal resources. Here the authors identify, using Drosophila locomotion in response to odor, a simple strategy that adapts its motor program to sensory context automatically.
- Liangyu Tao
- , Samuel P. Wechsler
- & Vikas Bhandawat
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| Open AccessHeterogeneous receptor expression underlies non-uniform peptidergic modulation of olfaction in Drosophila
Neuropeptides are ancient modulators of neural signaling, but remain poorly understood. Here, the authors examine the neural and molecular substrates that enable a single neuropeptide to differentially modulate olfactory input to the Drosophila AL.
- Tyler R. Sizemore
- , Julius Jonaitis
- & Andrew M. Dacks
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Article
| Open AccessA sex-specific thermogenic neurocircuit induced by predator smell recruiting cholecystokinin neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus
Predator cue detection is associated with changes in feeding and energy expenditure processes. Here the authors show that female mice exhibit heightened stress-dependent metabolic changes and report that this response is integrated by neurons within the dorsomedial hypothalamus.
- Predrag Jovanovic
- , Allan-Hermann Pool
- & Celine E. Riera
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| Open AccessNeural manifolds for odor-driven innate and acquired appetitive preferences
It remains unclear how odorants with diverse appetitive preferences are encoded by an ensemble of neurons. Here, the authors show that such odorants can be succinctly described using low-dimensional neural representations or ‘neural manifolds.’
- Rishabh Chandak
- & Baranidharan Raman
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Article
| Open AccessNeuroinvasion and anosmia are independent phenomena upon infection with SARS-CoV-2 and its variants
Here, Dias de Melo et al. assess the clinical, olfactory, and neuroinflammatory conditions of golden hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2 wt and VOCs and report that viruses can infect neurons, travel inside axons, and invade the central nervous system.
- Guilherme Dias de Melo
- , Victoire Perraud
- & Hervé Bourhy
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| Open AccessCombinatorial encoding of odors in the mosquito antennal lobe
The human smell that attracts mosquitoes includes many chemical odorants. Here, authors used electrophysiology to probe neurons in the antennal lobe region of the tiny mosquito brain and found that they represent odorants using a combinatorial code.
- Pranjul Singh
- , Shefali Goyal
- & Nitin Gupta
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Article
| Open AccessHomeostatic synaptic plasticity rescues neural coding reliability
How synaptic plasticity affects neural coding reliability is not well understood. Here, the authors find that reducing neurotransmitter release probability triggers a homeostatic compensation to maintain neural coding and behavioral reliability.
- Eyal Rozenfeld
- , Nadine Ehmann
- & Moshe Parnas
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Article
| Open AccessAggregation pheromones have a non-linear effect on oviposition behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila larvae may benefit each other at lower densities but compete at higher densities. Here, Verschut et al. identify a mechanism enabling Drosophila females to favor egg-laying sites containing medium concentrations of aggregation pheromones, which may facilitate choice of favorable sites.
- Thomas A. Verschut
- , Renny Ng
- & Jean-Christophe Billeter
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Article
| Open AccessOzone exposure disrupts insect sexual communication
Insect pheromones can be degraded by the air pollutant ozone. Jiang et al. show that ozone-exposed male flies lose their pheromones and become less attractive to females. Additionally, ozone-exposed males exhibited increased male-male courtship behaviour as a result of reduced sex recognition.
- Nan-Ji Jiang
- , Hetan Chang
- & Markus Knaden
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| Open AccessRobust odor identification in novel olfactory environments in mice
Detecting relevant odours from background odours is important for animal behaviour. Here the authors design a task to study this process in mice.
- Yan Li
- , Mitchell Swerdloff
- & Gonzalo H. Otazu
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| Open AccessAn optofluidic platform for interrogating chemosensory behavior and brainwide neural representation in larval zebrafish
Studying chemosensory processing desires precise chemical cue presentation, behavioral response monitoring, and large-scale neuronal activity recording. Here, the authors report a fluidics-based toolkit for studying chemosensation in larval zebrafish, and used it to reveal the brainwide neural representations of cadaverine sensing and its binasal input-dependent behavioral avoidance.
- Samuel K. H. Sy
- , Danny C. W. Chan
- & Ho Ko
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| Open AccessA multivesicular body-like organelle mediates stimulus-regulated trafficking of olfactory ciliary transduction proteins
Odor stimuli are transduced in cilia of olfactory sensory neurons. Here the authors identify an odor stimulus-regulated organelle that specifically stores and releases transduction proteins in the dendrite.
- Devendra Kumar Maurya
- , Anna Berghard
- & Staffan Bohm
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| Open AccessLong-range GABAergic projections contribute to cortical feedback control of sensory processing
Classically, corticofugal feedback projections that adjust sensory processing are excitatory. Here, the authors uncover the presence of top-down inhibitory projections from cortical GABAergic neurons in the olfactory system, which directly inhibit olfactory bulb circuits.
- Camille Mazo
- , Antoine Nissant
- & Gabriel Lepousez
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Article
| Open AccessImmature olfactory sensory neurons provide behaviourally relevant sensory input to the olfactory bulb
New olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) wire into highly organized olfactory bulb circuits throughout life. Here, the authors show that immature OSNs provide behaviourally relevant sensory input to olfactory bulb neurons that is functionally distinct from that provided by mature OSNs.
- Jane S. Huang
- , Tenzin Kunkhyen
- & Claire E. J. Cheetham
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Article
| Open AccessA neural theory for counting memories
It is unclear how the brain keeps track of the number of times different events are experienced. Here, a neural circuit is proposed for this problem inspired by a classic solution in computer science, and evidence of this circuit is shown in the fruit fly brain.
- Sanjoy Dasgupta
- , Daisuke Hattori
- & Saket Navlakha
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Article
| Open AccessFlexible cue anchoring strategies enable stable head direction coding in both sighted and blind animals
Vision plays an important role in the head direction cell system in animals. Here the authors recorded from head direction cells in rd1 mice that show retinal degeneration at 1 month, and find that they use smell cues to maintain stable HD tuning.
- Kadjita Asumbisa
- , Adrien Peyrache
- & Stuart Trenholm
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| Open AccessDecoding the olfactory map through targeted transcriptomics links murine olfactory receptors to glomeruli
Targeted spatial transcriptomics mapped olfactory receptor mRNAs to sections of the murine olfactory bulb to generate an interactive, statistical, 3D model of glomeruli locations and identify an ultra-sensitive receptor-odorant relationship.
- Kevin W. Zhu
- , Shawn D. Burton
- & Hiroaki Matsunami
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| Open AccessA neural circuit for wind-guided olfactory navigation
Flies navigate to food sources by combining odour and wind-direction cues. This study identifies pathways to the fan-shaped body that encode these signals, and demonstrates how local neurons integrate odour- and wind information to guide navigation.
- Andrew M. M. Matheson
- , Aaron J. Lanz
- & Katherine I. Nagel
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| Open AccessOlfactory modulation of barrel cortex activity during active whisking and passive whisker stimulation
Rodents use both touch and smell to get around. This work describes how olfactory information is combined with touch perception in the cortex to guide behavior.
- Anthony Renard
- , Evan R. Harrell
- & Brice Bathellier
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| Open AccessStriatal hub of dynamic and stabilized prediction coding in forebrain networks for olfactory reinforcement learning
Where and how the brain learns from experience is not fully understood. Here the authors use a hierarchical approach from behavioural modelling to systems fMRI to cellular coding reveals brain mechanisms for history informed updating of future predictions.
- Laurens Winkelmeier
- , Carla Filosa
- & Wolfgang Kelsch
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| Open AccessFunctional and multiscale 3D structural investigation of brain tissue through correlative in vivo physiology, synchrotron microtomography and volume electron microscopy
The function of biological tissues is encoded in their physiology and structure. Here, Bosch et al. have integrated both insights to study specific neuronal circuits by combining in vivo light, synchrotron X-ray and volume electron microscopy.
- Carles Bosch
- , Tobias Ackels
- & Andreas T. Schaefer
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| Open AccessWAKE-mediated modulation of cVA perception via a hierarchical neuro-endocrine axis in Drosophila male-male courtship behaviour
The authors show that the Drosophila master regulator WAKE modulates the secretion of insulin-like peptides, triggering a decrease in 20-hydroxyecdysone levels. This lowers the perception of a male-specific sex pheromone and explains why WAKE-deficient Drosophila flies show male-male courtship behaviour.
- Shiu-Ling Chen
- , Bo-Ting Liu
- & Tsai-Feng Fu
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Article
| Open AccessHemoglobin in the blood acts as a chemosensory signal via the mouse vomeronasal system
The vomeronasal system regulates sensing of various environmental cues. Here, the authors show that exposure to hemoglobin results in the activation of Vmn2r88+ vomeronasal sensory neurons in both male and female mice. However, exposure to hemoglobin enhances digging and rearing behaviour in lactating female mice only.
- Takuya Osakada
- , Takayuki Abe
- & Kazushige Touhara
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Article
| Open AccessGPCR voltage dependence controls neuronal plasticity and behavior
G-protein coupled receptors are regulated by the membrane potential in vitro. Here, the authors show that muscarinic receptor voltage independence causes a strong behavioural effect of increased odour habituation, showing that these receptors are also in vivo modulated by the membrane potential.
- Eyal Rozenfeld
- , Merav Tauber
- & Moshe Parnas
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Article
| Open AccessOlfactory bulb astrocytes mediate sensory circuit processing through Sox9 in the mouse brain
Astrocytes can regulate neuronal activity. Here, the authors show that astrocyte-specific deletion of Sox9 results in impaired neuronal sensory processing in the mouse adult olfactory bulb.
- Kevin Ung
- , Teng-Wei Huang
- & Benjamin R. Arenkiel
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| Open AccessLarge-scale characterization of sex pheromone communication systems in Drosophila
Despite the profound knowledge of sex pheromones, little is known about the coevolutionary mechanisms and constraints on their production and detection. Whole-genome sequences from 99 drosophilids, with chemical and behavioural data, show that sex pheromones and their cognate olfactory channels evolve rapidly and independently.
- Mohammed A. Khallaf
- , Rongfeng Cui
- & Markus Knaden
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Article
| Open AccessOlfactory expression of trace amine-associated receptors requires cooperative cis-acting enhancers
How olfactory sensory neurons express one allele of one TAAR gene is not well understood. Here the authors identify two cooperative cis-acting enhancers that govern TAAR gene choice and that share both similarities and differences with known olfactory enhancers.
- Ami Shah
- , Madison Ratkowski
- & Thomas Bozza
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| Open AccessCoordination of two enhancers drives expression of olfactory trace amine-associated receptors
In our nose, some neuron subpopulations express a family of trace amine associated receptors (TAARs, smelling e.g., rotten fish). Fei et al. identify two conserved enhancers across placental mammals named TAAR enhancer 1 and 2 that coordinately regulate expression of the entire Taar gene repertoire.
- Aimei Fei
- , Wanqing Wu
- & Qian Li
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Article
| Open AccessUnc13A and Unc13B contribute to the decoding of distinct sensory information in Drosophila
The physical distance between synaptic Ca2+ channels and sensors modulates short-term plasticity (STP). Here, the authors show that synaptic release factors Unc13A and Unc13B distinctly couple with Ca2+ channels and contribute to the neural decoding of distinct sensory information in Drosophila.
- Atefeh Pooryasin
- , Marta Maglione
- & Stephan J. Sigrist
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Article
| Open AccessYoung adult-born neurons improve odor coding by mitral cells
Shani-Narkiss et al. established an experimental system to test the functional role of adult born neurons (ABNs) on Mitral Cell (MC) coding. Silencing ABNs, unexpectedly, quenched MC odor responses. A computational model provides a mechanistic explanation to the functional role of adult-born neurons in circuit computation of the olfactory bulb.
- H. Shani-Narkiss
- , A. Vinograd
- & A. Mizrahi
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| Open AccessSmell and taste changes are early indicators of the COVID-19 pandemic and political decision effectiveness
Syndromic surveillance for COVID-19 could help to identify areas with increasing transmission. Here, the authors show that increased reports of changes in smell and taste measured at the population level are correlated with the increased COVID-19-related hospital admissions.
- Denis Pierron
- , Veronica Pereda-Loth
- & Moustafa Bensafi
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular layer interneurons in the cerebellum encode for valence in associative learning
This study shows that cerebellar molecular layer interneurons (MLIs) develop responses encoding for identity of the stimulus in an associative learning task. Chemogenetic inhibition of MLIs decreased the ability of mice to discriminate stimuli suggesting that MLIs encode for stimulus valence.
- Ming Ma
- , Gregory L. Futia
- & Diego Restrepo
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| Open AccessPhasic dopamine reinforces distinct striatal stimulus encoding in the olfactory tubercle driving dopaminergic reward prediction
It is not entirely understood how network plasticity produces the coding of predicted value during stimulus-outcome learning. Here, the authors reveal a reinforcing loop in distributed limbic circuits, transforming sensory stimuli into reward prediction coding broadcasted by dopamine neurons to the brain.
- Lars-Lennart Oettl
- , Max Scheller
- & Wolfgang Kelsch
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Article
| Open AccessAntagonistic odor interactions in olfactory sensory neurons are widespread in freely breathing mice
Odor blends contain molecules that activate unique, overlapping populations of sensory neurons (OSNs). Here, by imaging OSN axon terminals, as well as their cell bodies within the olfactory epithelium, the authors find widespread antagonistic interactions in binary and complex odor mixtures.
- Joseph D. Zak
- , Gautam Reddy
- & Venkatesh N. Murthy
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| Open AccessThe impact of learning on perceptual decisions and its implication for speed-accuracy tradeoffs
Here, the authors show that rats’ performance on olfactory decision tasks is best explained by a Bayesian model that combines reinforcement-based learning with accumulation of uncertain sensory evidence. The results suggest that learning is a critical factor contributing to speed-accuracy tradeoffs.
- André G. Mendonça
- , Jan Drugowitsch
- & Zachary F. Mainen
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| Open AccessOlfactory specificity regulates lipid metabolism through neuroendocrine signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans
Olfaction is a key sensory modality with high diversity and olfactory defects has been associated with metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders. Here, the authors discovered that specific olfactory inputs actively regulate lipid metabolism in a dynamic and reversible manner.
- Ayse Sena Mutlu
- , Shihong Max Gao
- & Meng C. Wang
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Article
| Open AccessOlfactory memory representations are stored in the anterior olfactory nucleus
Odours are powerful stimuli used by most organisms to guide behaviour. Here, the authors identify populations of neurons within the anterior olfactory nucleus (AON) which are necessary and sufficient for the behavioural expression of odour memory.
- Afif J. Aqrabawi
- & Jun Chul Kim
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Article
| Open AccessMultiple network properties overcome random connectivity to enable stereotypic sensory responses
Because of stochastic connections between some brain regions, an identified neuron can receive different inputs across individual animals and yet respond similarly to sensory stimuli. Here the authors reveal the network mechanisms that enable stereotypic sensory responses across individuals.
- Aarush Mohit Mittal
- , Diksha Gupta
- & Nitin Gupta
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Article
| Open AccessNon-invasive recording from the human olfactory bulb
Measures of neural processing can be obtained non-invasively from all areas of the human brain but one, the olfactory bulb. Here, the authors show that signals obtained from EEG electrodes at the nasal bridge represent responses from the human olfactory bulb, the so-called Electrobulbogram.
- Behzad Iravani
- , Artin Arshamian
- & Johan N. Lundström
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Article
| Open AccessThe evolution of sexual signaling is linked to odorant receptor tuning in perfume-collecting orchid bees
Male orchid bees collect scents from the environment to attract females for mating. Here, Brand et al. combine population genomic, perfume chemistry, and functional analyses to show how divergence in odorant receptor genes may be driving reproductive divergence between two orchid bee species.
- Philipp Brand
- , Ismael A. Hinojosa-Díaz
- & Santiago R. Ramírez
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Article
| Open AccessShort-term availability of adult-born neurons for memory encoding
Olfactory bulb neurogenesis raises the question of how persistent olfactory memories are retained while remaining flexible to encode new memories. Here, the authors show that new neurons can only support a single odor memory within their critical period of integration into the circuit.
- Jérémy Forest
- , Mélissa Moreno
- & Nathalie Mandairon
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Article
| Open AccessBacterial MgrB peptide activates chemoreceptor Fpr3 in mouse accessory olfactory system and drives avoidance behaviour
The role of chemoreceptors on vomeronasal neurons are not fully understood. Here the authors show that in mice, the vomeronasal chemoreceptor Fpr3 responds to peptides from the bacterial MgrB protein, and that exposure to these peptides drives an avoidance response.
- Bernd Bufe
- , Yannick Teuchert
- & Frank Zufall
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Article
| Open AccessTarget specific functions of EPL interneurons in olfactory circuits
The precise cell-type specific role of inhibitory interneurons in regulating sensory responses in the olfactory bulb is not known. Here, the authors report that removing GABAergic inhibition from one layer differentially affects response dynamics of the two main output cell types and changes odor mixture processing.
- Gary Liu
- , Emmanouil Froudarakis
- & Benjamin R. Arenkiel
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Article
| Open AccessCo-option of neurotransmitter signaling for inter-organismal communication in C. elegans
Inter-organismal signaling is essential for animals to navigate and survive in their natural environment, yet is unclear how these chemical communication channels may have evolved. Here, authors show that TYRA-2, an endogenous tyramine/octopamine receptor, is required for the chemosensation of an octopamine-derived pheromone and that this signaling system represents an inter-organismal communication channel that evolved via co-option of a neurotransmitter and its cognate receptor
- Christopher D. Chute
- , Elizabeth M. DiLoreto
- & Jagan Srinivasan
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| Open AccessAsymmetric ephaptic inhibition between compartmentalized olfactory receptor neurons
In Drosophila antenna, an unusual non-synaptic form of lateral inhibition occurs between subtypes of compartmentalized olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). Here, authors show that direct electrical (ephaptic) interactions mediate lateral inhibition between ORNs, with physically larger ORNs dominating ephaptic interactions.
- Ye Zhang
- , Tin Ki Tsang
- & Chih-Ying Su