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Dopaminergic Modulation Shapes Sensorimotor Processing in the Drosophila Mushroom Body
Get PDFTo survive in a complex and dynamic environment, animals must adapt their behavior based on their current needs and prior experiences. This flexibility is often mediated by neuromodulation within neural circuits that link sensory representations to alternative behavioral responses depending on contextual cues and learned associations. In Drosophila, the mushroom body is a prominent neural structure essential for olfactory learning. Dopaminergic neurons convey salient information about reward and punishment to the mushroom body in order to adjust synaptic connectivity between Kenyon cells, the neurons representing olfactory stimuli, and the mushroom body output neurons that ultimately influence behavior. However, we still lack a mechanistic understanding of how the dopaminergic neurons represent the moment-tomoment experience of a fly and drive changes in this sensory-to-motor transformation. Furthermore, very little is known about how the output neuron pathways lead to the execution of appropriate odor-related behaviors. We took advantage of the mushroom body\u27s modular circuit organization to investigate how the dopaminergic neuron population encodes different contextual cues. In vivo functional imaging of the dopaminergic neurons reveals that they represent both external reinforcement stimuli, like sugar rewards or punitive electric shock, as well as the fly\u27s motor state, through coordinated and partially antagonistic activity patterns across the population. This multiplexing of motor and reward signals by the dopaminergic neurons parallels the dual roles of dopaminergic inputs to the vertebrate basal ganglia, thus demonstrating a conserved link between these distantly related neural circuits. We proceed to demonstrate that this dopaminergic signal in the mushroom body modifies neurotransmission with synaptic specificity and temporal precision to coordinately regulate the propagation of sensory signals through the output neurons. To explore how these output pathways ultimately influence olfactory navigation we have developed a closed loop olfactory paradigm in which we can monitor and manipulate the mushroom body output neurons as a fly navigates in a virtual olfactory environment. We have begun to probe the mushroom body circuitry in the context of olfactory navigation. These preliminary investigations have led to the identification of putative pathways for linking mushroom body output with the circuits that implement odor-tracking behavior and the characterization of the complex sensorimotor representations in the dopaminergic network. Our work reveals that the Drosophila dopaminergic system modulates mushroom body output at both acute and enduring timescales to guide immediate behaviors and learned responses
Part of the exhibit: Early years. Details
No full textPart of the exhibit Günter Blobel: Pioneer of Molecular Cell Biology
Idea, design - Olga Nilova, Outreach Librarian
Photo by Lubosh Stepanekhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/open-house-2018/1006/thumbnail.jp
Before the reception
No full textOpen House 2018, reception
Photo by Lubosh Stepanekhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/open-house-2018/1004/thumbnail.jp
Remarks. Guests
No full textMarkus Library Open House, remarks.
Photo by Lubosh Stepanekhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/open-house-2018/1019/thumbnail.jp
Remarks. Elias Coutavas
No full textElias Coutavas, Senior Research Associate. Blobel laboratory
Photo by Lubosh Stepanekhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/open-house-2018/1017/thumbnail.jp
Closing remarks. Laura Maioglio Blobel
No full textLaura Maioglio Blobel, closing remarks. Markus Library Open House
Photo by Lubosh Stepanekhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/open-house-2018/1020/thumbnail.jp
Portrait of Galileo Galilei
No full textPortrait of Galileo Galilei (1546-1642), Italian polymath, by Justus Susterman. 1640
National Maritime Museumhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/alfred-cohn-collection/1002/thumbnail.jp
Opere di Galileo Galilei
No full textOpere di Galileo Galilei. Bologna, 1655-56
Idea, design: Olga Nilova, Outreach Librarian
Photo by Lubosh Stepanekhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/alfred-cohn-collection/1001/thumbnail.jp
Portrait of John Browne
No full textJohn Browne (1642-1702), English anatomist, surgeon, and author, by Robert White
National Portrait Gallery, Londonhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/alfred-cohn-collection/1011/thumbnail.jp
Browne, John. Myographia nova
No full textBrowne, John. Myographia nova: or, a graphical description of all the muscles in the human body, as they arise in dissection. London, 1698
The book has been restored by Jennifer Jestin, book conservator
Photo by Lubosh Stepanekhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/alfred-cohn-collection/1010/thumbnail.jp