Communication subspace dynamics of the canonical olfactory pathway

Understanding how different brain areas communicate is crucial for elucidating the mechanisms underlying cognition. A possible way for neural populations to interact is through a communication subspace, a specific region in the state-space enabling the transmission of behaviorally relevant spiking patterns. In the olfactory system, it remains unclear if different populations employ such a mechanism. Our study reveals that neuronal ensembles in the main olfactory pathway (olfactory bulb to olfactory cortex) interact through a communication subspace, which is driven by nasal respiration and allows feedforward and feedback transmission to occur segregated along the sniffing cycle. Moreover, our results demonstrate that subspace communication depends causally on the activity of both areas, is hindered during anesthesia, and transmits a low-dimensional representation of odor.