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A neuronal ensemble encoding adaptive choice during sensory conflict in Drosophila
Preeti F Sareen1, Li Yan McCurdy1,2, Michael N Nitabach3,4,5
1Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Nature Communications
|July 6, 2021
Summary
Fruit flies
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Animal Behavior
- Sensory Processing
Background:
- Feeding decisions are crucial for survival.
- Disease can disrupt normal decision-making processes, including feeding behavior.
- Understanding the neural basis of food choice is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neural mechanisms underlying food choice in Drosophila.
- To identify brain regions and neuronal populations involved in representing food preferences during sensory conflict.
- To explore how internal state and experience influence feeding decisions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism.
- Recorded neural activity in specific neuronal populations projecting to the fan-shaped body.
- Manipulated food availability and sensory input to create conflict.
- Investigated upstream neuropeptidergic and dopaminergic networks.
Main Results:
- Neural activity in fan-shaped body neurons represents food choice under sensory conflict.
- Food-deprived flies exhibit trade-offs between appetitive and aversive food values.
- An upstream network relays internal state and decision-relevant information to fan-shaped body neurons.
- Specific fan-shaped body neurons are inhibited by rejected food, indicating they encode choice.
Conclusions:
- The fan-shaped body integrates taste quality, prior experience, and hunger state to encode food choices.
- This integration occurs before information is relayed to motor circuits for behavioral execution.
- Findings reveal a neural circuit for decision-making in feeding behavior.
