Olfactory system articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neural architecture may be shaped by selection, but is likely also constrained by development. Here, Keesey and colleagues find an inverse relationship between allocation towards visual and olfactory sensory systems across the genus Drosophila, which may reflect a developmental trade-off.

    • Ian W. Keesey
    • , Veit Grabe
    •  & Bill S. Hansson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neuronal activity leads to a local increase in blood flow and volume, a process termed hyperaemia. Here, the authors employ multiple imaging approaches of neuronal and vascular activity at varying resolution to delineate the spatiotemporal dynamics of neurovascular coupling evoked by odours in the olfactory bulb.

    • Davide Boido
    • , Ravi L. Rungta
    •  & Serge Charpak

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Olfactory experience can alter the relative abundance of neurons expressing specific chemoreceptors. Here, the authors demonstrate that the distinct odor experiences of sex-separated male and female mice induce sex-specific differences in the abundance of neurons that detect sexually dimorphic odors.

    • Carl van der Linden
    • , Susanne Jakob
    •  & Stephen W. Santoro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Olfactory marker protein (OMP) expressed in all olfactory sensory neurons (OSN) is required for proper signal transduction and odor discrimination. Here, the authors report that OMP deletion leads to formation of glomeruli with axons from heterogeneous OSNs due to local axonal mistargeting.

    • Dinu F. Albeanu
    • , Allison C. Provost
    •  & Venkatesh N. Murthy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is now possible to predict what a chemical smells like based on its chemical structure, however to date, this has only been done for a small number of odor descriptors. Here, using natural-language semantic representations, the authors demonstrate prediction of a much wider range of descriptors.

    • E. Darío Gutiérrez
    • , Amit Dhurandhar
    •  & Guillermo A. Cecchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Olfaction, the sense of smell, may have originally evolved to aid navigation in space, but there is no direct evidence of a link between olfaction and navigation in humans. Here the authors show that olfaction and spatial memory abilities are correlated and rely on similar brain regions in humans.

    • Louisa Dahmani
    • , Raihaan M. Patel
    •  & Véronique D. Bohbot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Increasing evidence suggest that olfactory receptors can carry additional functions besides olfaction. Here, Chéret et al. show that stimulation of the olfactory receptor ORT2A4 by the odorant Sandalore® stimulates growth of human scalp hair follicles ex vivo, suggesting the use of ORT2A4-targeting odorants as hair growth-promoting agents.

    • Jérémy Chéret
    • , Marta Bertolini
    •  & Ralf Paus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sensory stimuli are encountered in multiple ways necessitating a flexible and adaptive neural population code for identification. Here, the authors show that the dynamics of odor coding in the locust antennal lobe varies with stimulus context so as to enhance the target stimulus representation.

    • Srinath Nizampatnam
    • , Debajit Saha
    •  & Baranidharan Raman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Odorous chemicals broadly activate subsets of olfactory receptors in the nose, but how individual receptors contribute to behavioral sensitivity is not clear. Here, the authors demonstrate that detection thresholds in mice are set solely by the highest affinity receptor for a given odorant.

    • Adam Dewan
    • , Annika Cichy
    •  & Thomas Bozza

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hippocampus is necessary for integrating the context with sensory cues to retrieve memory for unique episodes. Here, the authors show that inhibiting topographically organized projections from hippocampus to the anterior olfactory nucleus independently impairs spatial and temporal odour memory recall.

    • Afif J. Aqrabawi
    •  & Jun Chul Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The molecular mechanisms underlying synapse formation in the olfactory bulb are not fully understood. Here the authors demonstrate that semaphorin 7A on olfactory sensory neurons, and its receptor plexin C1 expressed on mitral and tufted cells, is required for correct synapse formation.

    • Nobuko Inoue
    • , Hirofumi Nishizumi
    •  & Hitoshi Sakano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mitral/tufted (MT) cells connect to a single glomerulus and receive inputs from sensory neurons expressing the same odorant receptor. Here the authors report that sister MT cells connected to the M72 glomerulus exhibit variable responses to most M72 ligands but respond in a reproducible and stereotyped way to a high-affinity M72 ligand.

    • Ezequiel M. Arneodo
    • , Kristina B. Penikis
    •  & Dmitry Rinberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Time-lapse imaging studies of more than a day in the fly brain have been infeasible until now. Here the authors present a laser microsurgery approach to create a permanent window in the fly cuticle to enable time-lapse imaging of neural architecture and dynamics for up to 10–50 days.

    • Cheng Huang
    • , Jessica R. Maxey
    •  & Mark J. Schnitzer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Odor-guided spatial behaviours are difficult to study due to the challenge of controlling chemical concentrations in space and time. Here the authors present a precise odor delivery system to generate a olfactory virtual landscape that engages hippocampal place cells in mice.

    • Brad A. Radvansky
    •  & Daniel A. Dombeck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microcircuit tracing reconstructions often rely on statistical labeling that may not detect all inputs and outputs of a microcircuit. Here the authors employ a novel electroporation approach to densely label neurons and demonstrate its ability to identify sparse anatomical features in the olfactory glomerulus.

    • D. Schwarz
    • , M. Kollo
    •  & A. T. Schaefer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Odor identity remains stable despite changes in concentration yet the neural mechanisms are relatively unknown. Here the authors test a primacy coding model using an optogenetic masking paradigm in mice to show that a set of earliest activated receptors are sufficient to make decisions about odor identity across concentrations.

    • Christopher D. Wilson
    • , Gabriela O. Serrano
    •  & Dmitry Rinberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Each olfactory sensory neuron expresses a single odorant receptor gene from either class I or class II genes. Here, the authors identify an enhancer for mouse class I genes, that is highly conserved, and regulates most class I genes expression by acting over ~ 3 megabases within the whole cluster.”

    • Tetsuo Iwata
    • , Yoshihito Niimura
    •  & Junji Hirota

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cholinergic neurons innervate multiple layers in the main olfactory bulb but the precise circuitry of this input is not known. Here the authors show that VGLUT3+ cholinergic neurons selectively innervate deep short axon cells in specific layers and elicit robust monosynaptic GABAergic and nicotinic postsynaptic currents.

    • Daniel T. Case
    • , Shawn D. Burton
    •  & Rebecca P. Seal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How neuronal migration and axon growth coordinate during development is only partially understood. Here the authors use quantitative imaging to characterise the morphogenesis of the zebrafish olfactory placode and report an unexpected phenomenon, whereby axons extend through the passive movement of neuron cell bodies away from tethered axon tips.

    • M. A. Breau
    • , I. Bonnet
    •  & S. Schneider-Maunoury

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) mediate the interactions between individuals in eusocial insects, but the sensory receptors for CHCs are unclear. Here the authors show that in ants such as H. saltator, the 9-exon subfamily of odorant receptors (HsOrs) responds to CHCs, and ectopic expression of HsOrs in Drosophila neurons imparts responsiveness to CHCs.

    • Gregory M. Pask
    • , Jesse D. Slone
    •  & Anandasankar Ray

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Humans and animals recognize an odorant across a range of odorant concentrations, but where in the olfactory processing pathway this invariance is generated is unclear. By measuring and comparing olfactory bulb outputs to inputs, the authors show that the olfactory bulb participates in generating the perception of odorant concentration invariance.

    • Douglas A. Storace
    •  & Lawrence B. Cohen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The range of odours that an insect can detect depends on its olfactory receptors. Here, the authors functionally characterize the olfactory receptor repertoire of the mothSpodoptera littoralis using the Drosophilaempty neuron system and reconstruct the evolution of these receptors in the Lepidoptera.

    • Arthur de Fouchier
    • , William B. Walker III
    •  & Emmanuelle Jacquin-Joly

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Emerging evidence suggests that lamins regulate gene expression during cellular differentiation. Giganteet al. show that lamin B1 is necessary for the upregulation of mature neuron-specific genes during olfactory neuron differentiation, and its deficiency leads to attenuated olfactory neuron response to odour in mice.

    • Crystal M. Gigante
    • , Michele Dibattista
    •  & Haiqing Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The anterior olfactory nucleus pars medialis (mAON) provides cortical feedback to the olfactory bulb, but the behavioural relevance of these projections is unknown. Here, using opto- and chemogenetic approaches, the authors find the mAON bidirectionally modulates olfactory sensitivity and olfaction-dependent behaviours.

    • Afif J. Aqrabawi
    • , Caleb J. Browne
    •  & Jun Chul Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mosquitoes use olfactory cues to locate their host. Here, Riabinina et al. use genetic labelling of olfactory receptor neurons in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiaeto show that these neurons project to the antennal lobe, a known insect olfactory centre, and the subesophageal zone, a region previously linked to gustatory processing.

    • Olena Riabinina
    • , Darya Task
    •  & Christopher J. Potter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism by which adult-born neurons quickly adjust olfactory bulb network functioning is not understood. Here the authors describe a novel form of structural plasticity in which mature spines relocate toward active mitral cell dendrite along spine head filopodia via AMPA and BDNF mediated signalling.

    • Vincent Breton-Provencher
    • , Karen Bakhshetyan
    •  & Armen Saghatelyan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The piriform cortex projects to multiple brain regions involved in diverse aspects of olfactory behavior but information about the organization of these outputs is lacking. Here the authors show that piriform neurons exhibit layer specific gene expression patterns that also define distinct projection targets.

    • Assunta Diodato
    • , Marion Ruinart de Brimont
    •  & Alexander Fleischmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synaptic inhibition in the olfactory bulb (OB) is believed to play a role in odour processing. Here, the authors use a Pcdh21-driven Cre-line to disrupt KCC2 expression in OB mitral cells and find altered synaptic connectivity along with disrupted separation of odour-induced activity patterns.

    • Kathrin Gödde
    • , Olivier Gschwend
    •  & Thomas J. Jentsch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The accessory olfactory system (AOS) processes social chemosensory information and guides behaviors that are important for survival and reproduction in mammals. Here the authors report that mouse feces are a source of AOS neuronal activity and identify unconjugated bile acids in feces as a class of natural AOS ligands.

    • Wayne I. Doyle
    • , Jordan A. Dinser
    •  & Julian P. Meeks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the basis of odour perception and discrimination is a challenging task, due to the inherent complexity of the olfactory system. Here, the authors use a medicinal chemistry approach to derive biologically relevant rules for odorant classification.

    • Erwan Poivet
    • , Zita Peterlin
    •  & Stuart Firestein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    New olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) wire into olfactory bulb circuits throughout life. Here, the authors show that newly generated OSNs form highly dynamics synapses and can elicit functional responses in OB neurons, while mature OSNs retain a high level of activity-dependent synaptic reorganisation.

    • Claire E. J. Cheetham
    • , Una Park
    •  & Leonardo Belluscio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolution of the brain in Old World monkeys (cercopithecoids) is poorly understood. Here the authors describe a complete endocast of Victoriapithecus, a 15 Myr old cercopithecoid, which shows that the brain size was much smaller and the olfactory bulbs much larger than in any extant catarrhine primate.

    • Lauren A. Gonzales
    • , Brenda R. Benefit
    •  & Fred Spoor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the olfactory system, odourants typically evoke spiking responses in neurons that are both spatially and temporally structured. Here, the authors demonstrate that odour identity is encoded purely by the combinations of neurons activated and is insensitive to changes in temporal structure.

    • Debajit Saha
    • , Chao Li
    •  & Baranidharan Raman

  • Article |

    Juxtaglomerular neurons (JGNs) of the mammalian olfactory bulb are generated throughout life, but when and how these adult-born cells acquire responsiveness to sensory stimuli remains unknown. Here, the authors use in vivotwo-photon imaging to monitor the migration and integration of adult-born JGNs and their sensory response properties.

    • Yury Kovalchuk
    • , Ryota Homma
    •  & Olga Garaschuk

  • Article |

    The structure of insect odorant receptors (ORs) has remained elusive due to their lack of homology to other proteins and the inability to obtain OR crystals. Here, the authors use amino acid evolutionary covariation patterns to fold these proteins de novoand generate the first three-dimensional models of insect ORs.

    • Thomas A. Hopf
    • , Satoshi Morinaga
    •  & Richard Benton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Loss of olfactory function is one of the many symptoms of the ciliopathy Bardet–Biedl syndrome. Williams et al. show that Bardet–Biedl proteins are components of intraflagellar transport particles within cilia, and directly visualize their trafficking in native mammalian olfactory neurons.

    • Corey L. Williams
    • , Jeremy C. McIntyre
    •  & Jeffrey R. Martens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aggregation-prone forms of α-synuclein lead to degeneration of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, as seen in Parkinson’s disease, but less is known about the effects that the noxious protein has in other brain regions. Here, the authors investigate the effect of a pathological form of α-synuclein on the functional integration of new neurons into the olfactory bulb of adult mice.

    • Johanna Neuner
    • , Saak V. Ovsepian
    •  & Jochen Herms

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