A conserved dedicated olfactory circuit for detecting harmful microbes in Drosophila.

Flies, like all animals, need to find suitable and safe food. Because the principal food source for Drosophila melanogaster is yeast growing on fermenting fruit, flies need to distinguish fruit with safe yeast from yeast covered with toxic microbes. We identify a functionally segregated olfactory circuit in flies that is activated exclusively by geosmin. This microbial odorant constitutes an ecologically relevant stimulus that alerts flies to the presence of harmful microbes. Geosmin activates only a single class of sensory neurons expressing the olfactory receptor Or56a. These neurons target the DA2 glomerulus and connect to projection neurons that respond exclusively to geosmin. Activation of DA2 is sufficient and necessary for aversion, overrides input from other olfactory pathways, and inhibits positive chemotaxis, oviposition, and feeding. The geosmin detection system is a conserved feature in the genus Drosophila that provides flies with a sensitive, specific means of identifying unsuitable feeding and breeding sites.

Transition from sea to land: olfactory function and constraints in the terrestrial hermit crab Coenobita clypeatus.

The ability to identify chemical cues in the environment is essential to most animals. Apart from marine larval stages, anomuran land hermit crabs (Coenobita) have evolved different degrees of terrestriality, and thus represent an excellent opportunity to investigate adaptations of the olfactory system needed for a successful transition from aquatic to terrestrial life. Although superb processing capacities of the central olfactory system have been indicated in Coenobita and their olfactory system evidently is functional on land, virtually nothing was known about what type of odourants are detected. Here, we used electroantennogram (EAG) recordings in Coenobita clypeatus and established the olfactory response spectrum. Interestingly, different chemical groups elicited EAG responses of opposite polarity, which also appeared for Coenobita compressus and the closely related marine hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus. Furthermore, in a two-choice bioassay with C. clypeatus, we found that water vapour was critical for natural and synthetic odourants to induce attraction or repulsion. Strikingly, also the physiological response was found much greater at higher humidity in C. clypeatus, whereas no such effect appeared in the terrestrial vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster. In conclusion, our results reveal that the Coenobita olfactory system is restricted to a limited number of water-soluble odourants, and that high humidity is most critical for its function.

Desert ants benefit from combining visual and olfactory landmarks.

The desert ant, Cataglyphis fortis, uses both visual and olfactory cues to guide its return to the nest. The ants use vision-based path integration for long-distance navigation and memorize the visual and olfactory surrounding of the nest to finally locate the entrance. In the present study we investigated how the visual and the olfactory navigation systems interact. In field experiments ants were trained to associate the nest with a visual cue, an olfactory cue or a combination of both cues. We tested ants after one, five and 15 training runs, to investigate whether the ants would make use of the training cues to pinpoint the nest. We found that they were slow to learn the location of the nest when it was specified by just an olfactory or a visual cue. However, the ants focused their nest search after the first training run with the combined cue. Equally experienced ants responded to the individually presented visual or olfactory cues with the same high accuracy as they did to the combined cue. After 15 training runs, the combined cue still evoked an accurate response in the test, whereas the individually presented cues no longer did. Apparently, C. fortis benefit from combining their visual and olfactory navigational tools, because the bimodal sensory input accelerates the acquisition of landmark information.

Publisher Correction: An expression atlas of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors identifies a molecular basis of carbonation sensing.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Smells like home: Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, use olfactory landmarks to pinpoint the nest.

BACKGROUND: Cataglyphis fortis ants forage individually for dead arthropods in the inhospitable salt-pans of Tunisia. Locating the inconspicuous nest after a foraging run of more than 100 meters demands a remarkable orientation capability. As a result of high temperatures and the unpredictable distribution of food, Cataglyphis ants do not lay pheromone trails. Instead, path integration is the fundamental system of long-distance navigation. This system constantly informs a foraging ant about its position relative to the nest. In addition, the ants rely on visual landmarks as geocentric navigational cues to finally pinpoint the nest entrance. RESULTS: Apart from the visual cues within the ants' habitat, we found potential olfactory landmark information with different odour blends coupled to various ground structures. Here we show that Cataglyphis ants can use olfactory information in order to locate their nest entrance. Ants were trained to associate their nest entrance with a single odour. In a test situation, they focused their nest search on the position of the training odour but not on the positions of non-training odours. When trained to a single odour, the ants were able to recognise this odour within a mixture of four odours. CONCLUSION: The uniform salt-pans become less homogenous if one takes olfactory landmarks into account. As Cataglyphis ants associate environmental odours with the nest entrance they can be said to use olfactory landmarks in the vicinity of the nest for homing.

Estimation of homing distance in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, remains unaffected by disturbance of walking behaviour.

Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, use a stride integrator as a distance gauge in their well-studied path integration system (while a skylight compass provides the direction gauge). To further scrutinize the mechanisms of the ant odometer, we tried to disturb the stride integrator by interfering with normal walking behaviour. First, legs that contribute to one of the two leg tripods alternately used in normal walking were selectively amputated. This prevented the normal tripod gait and should interfere with both the normal walking programme controlled by the central nervous system, and normal sensory feedback from the legs. Second, manipulation of the walking substrate in the form of regular corrugations was observed to interfere with normal walking behaviour, at least for corrugation wavelengths (12-25 mm) in the range of normal stride lengths. The animals fell and stumbled, or footfall patterns were entrained to the corrugation wavelength. The relationship between stride length and stride frequency was altered in several situations. Surprisingly, distance estimation and homing performance remained virtually unaffected even by the most severe interferences with walking behaviour. This demonstrates a remarkable robustness of walking behaviour and homing, and it suggests that stride length is determined by robust signals of leg sense organs.

optoPAD, a closed-loop optogenetics system to study the circuit basis of feeding behaviors.

The regulation of feeding plays a key role in determining the fitness of animals through its impact on nutrition. Elucidating the circuit basis of feeding and related behaviors is an important goal in neuroscience. We recently used a system for closed-loop optogenetic manipulation of neurons contingent on the feeding behavior of Drosophila to dissect the impact of a specific subset of taste neurons on yeast feeding. Here, we describe the development and validation of this system, which we term the optoPAD. We use the optoPAD to induce appetitive and aversive effects on feeding by activating or inhibiting gustatory neurons in closed-loop - effectively creating virtual taste realities. The use of optogenetics allowed us to vary the dynamics and probability of stimulation in single flies and assess the impact on feeding behavior quantitatively and with high throughput. These data demonstrate that the optoPAD is a powerful tool to dissect the circuit basis of feeding behavior, allowing the efficient implementation of sophisticated behavioral paradigms to study the mechanistic basis of animals' adaptation to dynamic environments.

Internal amino acid state modulates yeast taste neurons to support protein homeostasis in Drosophila.

To optimize fitness, animals must dynamically match food choices to their current needs. For drosophilids, yeast fulfills most dietary protein and micronutrient requirements. While several yeast metabolites activate known gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) in Drosophila melanogaster, the chemosensory channels mediating yeast feeding remain unknown. Here we identify a class of proboscis GRNs required for yeast intake. Within this class, taste peg GRNs are specifically required to sustain yeast feeding. Sensillar GRNs, however, mediate feeding initiation. Furthermore, the response of yeast GRNs, but not sweet GRNs, is enhanced following deprivation from amino acids, providing a potential basis for protein-specific appetite. Although nutritional and reproductive states synergistically increase yeast appetite, reproductive state acts independently of nutritional state, modulating processing downstream of GRNs. Together, these results suggest that different internal states act at distinct levels of a dedicated gustatory circuit to elicit nutrient-specific appetites towards a complex, ecologically relevant protein source.

An expression atlas of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors identifies a molecular basis of carbonation sensing.

Through analysis of the Drosophila ionotropic receptors (IRs), a family of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors, we reveal that most IRs are expressed in peripheral neuron populations in diverse gustatory organs in larvae and adults. We characterise IR56d, which defines two anatomically-distinct neuron classes in the proboscis: one responds to carbonated solutions and fatty acids while the other represents a subset of sugar- and fatty acid-sensing cells. Mutational analysis indicates that IR56d, together with the broadly-expressed co-receptors IR25a and IR76b, is essential for physiological responses to carbonation and fatty acids, but not sugars. We further demonstrate that carbonation and fatty acids both promote IR56d-dependent attraction of flies, but through different behavioural outputs. Our work provides a toolkit for investigating taste functions of IRs, defines a subset of these receptors required for carbonation sensing, and illustrates how the gustatory system uses combinatorial expression of sensory molecules in distinct neurons to coordinate behaviour.

Just follow your nose: homing by olfactory cues in ants.

How is an ant-equipped with a brain that barely exceeds the size of a pinhead-capable of achieving navigational marvels? Even though evidences suggest that navigation is a multimodal process, ants heavily depend on olfactory cues-of pheromonal and non-pheromonal nature-for foraging and orientation. Recent studies have directed their attention to the efficiency of pheromone trail networks. Advances in neurophysiological techniques make it possible to investigate trail pheromone processing in the ant's brain. In addition to relying on pheromone odours, ants also make use of volatiles emanating from the nest surroundings. Deposited in the vicinity of the nest, these home-range markings help the ants to home after a foraging run. Furthermore, olfactory landmarks associated with the nest enhance ants' homing abilities.

A high-throughput behavioral paradigm for Drosophila olfaction - The Flywalk.

How can odor-guided behavior of numerous individual Drosophila be assessed automatically with high temporal resolution? For this purpose we introduce the automatic integrated tracking and odor-delivery system Flywalk. In fifteen aligned small wind tunnels individual flies are exposed to repeated odor pulses, well defined in concentration and timing. The flies' positions are visually tracked, which allows quantification of the odor-evoked walking behavior with high temporal resolution of up to 100 ms. As a demonstration of Flywalk we show that the flies' behavior is odorant-specific; attractive odors elicit directed upwind movements, while repellent odors evoke decreased activity, followed by downwind movements. These changes in behavior differ between sexes. Furthermore our findings show that flies can evaluate the sex of a conspecific and males can determine a female's mating status based on olfactory cues. Consequently, Flywalk allows automatic screening of individual flies for their olfactory preference and sensitivity.

A novel multicomponent stimulus device for use in olfactory experiments.

Olfactory studies have expanded beyond the study of single compound odor perception to explore the processing of complex mixtures and blends. The spatiotemporal presentation of blend stimuli is a challenging task requiring volatiles with diverse chemical and physical properties to be presented as a unified stimulus. This not only necessitates accurate control of the timing and homogeneity of the odor stream, but requires attention to the concentration of each blend component presented. We have developed a novel, multicomponent stimulus system for use in olfactory experiments that is capable of presenting up to 8 different odors simultaneously or in sequence at defined concentrations and time scales. Each odor is separated to minimize physical or chemical interactions, and stimulations are performed from a saturated headspace of the odor solution. Stimulus concentrations can be measured empirically or estimated using common gas laws. Photoionization detector measurements show that stimuli could be presented as cohesive blends or single components at frequencies of at least 10Hz without leakage or contamination. Solid phase microextraction measurements also show that the concentration of each component could be equilibrated through regulation of each component line's flow rate based on the different partial vapor pressures of the odorants. This device provides a unique method for introducing complex volatile mixtures for olfactory studies in a variety of animal taxa and allows for accurate control of odor intensities in both time and space.