OPRAS · Olfactory processing of repellent and attractive stimuli in the brain of Drosophila
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-04-01 → 2019-03-31
- EU contribution
- €183,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-RI
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Olfactory processing of repellent and attractive stimuli in the brain of Drosophila
This project addressed the mechanisms of smell detection in insects, and how it can be studied by using advanced genetic tools. Smell detection in insects is crucially important for two reasons. First, from the fundamental neuroscience point of view, we still do not understand how activity of neurons determines whether we, or any other animal, will perceive a smell as attractive or repellent. Using insects can help us solve this fundamental problem, because insects have much fewer neurons, and because we can use sophisticated genetic tools to study and manipulate the activity of these neurons. Second, from the applied point of view, insect sense of smell is extremely important because disease vectors and agricultural pests, such as mosquitoes and med flies, use their sense of smell to find humans or fruit, respectively. Thus, understanding of how they detect and process smell is crucial for developing new efficient strategies of disease and pest control. This is also the reason why this project is important for the society worldwide. The overall objectives of this project aimed to use advanced genetic tools to unravel how attractive and repellent smells are encoded in an insect brain. In conclusion, the project: 1) has developed a novel genetic tool, split-QF, in Drosophila. This tool is derived from another tool I developed earlier, the Q-system, and will be very useful to study and manipulate neuronal function and behaviour of different insects; 2) has developed novel methods and approaches to study responses to smells in mosquito larvae by using the Q-system.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Mosquito-borne diseases present one of the greatest threats to human health. Mosquitoes find humans by detecting human body odour and CO2 with their olfactory system. This project addresses the fundamental and still unresolved question of how odorant valence is coded in the brain and why odorants that are attractive (positive valence) at low concentrations, switch to being repulsive (negative valence) at high concentrations. This phenomenon of valence switch is well conserved throughout the animal kingdom and represents an ideal paradigm to address a key question in the neurosciences, i.e. how information processing in neuronal networks leads to behavioural responses. To advance the understanding of valence coding and olfactory processing, the Experienced Researcher (ER) will capitalise on her detailed knowledge of the evolutionary well conserved olfactory system of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, using its powerful genetic and experimental approaches (e.g. Riabinina et al, 2015, Nature Methods; Gao et al, 2015, Nature Neuroscience). The key goal of the project is to identify patterns of neuronal activity that code for odorant valence. To achieve this goal, we will record responses of small subsets of genetically labelled second-order olfactory neurons by patch-clamp while activating olfactory receptor neurons optogenetically or by odorants of known behavioural valence. We will apply statistical and machine learning techniques to detect parameters of neuronal activity, indicative of odorant valence. This project is significant for three reasons. First, it will dramatically improve our understanding of the mechanisms of olfactory processing likely applicable across species. Second, it will create new genetic reagents and experimental solutions, widely applicable across research areas and model organisms. Third, it will create a solid foundation for future development of powerful olfactory control strategies of insect disease vectors.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER · ManchesterCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union