Functional organization of a neural network for aversive olfactory learning in Caenorhabditis elegans.

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TitleFunctional organization of a neural network for aversive olfactory learning in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsHa, H-ick, Hendricks, M, Shen, Y, Gabel, CV, Fang-Yen, C, Qin, Y, Colón-Ramos, DA, Shen, K, Samuel, ADT, Zhang, Y
JournalNeuron
Volume68
Issue6
Pagination1173-86
Date Published2010 Dec 22
ISSN1097-4199
KeywordsAnimals, Avoidance Learning, Bacterial Proteins, Caenorhabditis elegans, Motor Activity, Nerve Net, Olfactory Pathways, Smell
Abstract

Many animals use their olfactory systems to learn to avoid dangers, but how neural circuits encode naive and learned olfactory preferences, and switch between those preferences, is poorly understood. Here, we map an olfactory network, from sensory input to motor output, which regulates the learned olfactory aversion of Caenorhabditis elegans for the smell of pathogenic bacteria. Naive animals prefer smells of pathogens but animals trained with pathogens lose this attraction. We find that two different neural circuits subserve these preferences, with one required for the naive preference and the other specifically for the learned preference. Calcium imaging and behavioral analysis reveal that the naive preference reflects the direct transduction of the activity of olfactory sensory neurons into motor response, whereas the learned preference involves modulations to signal transduction to downstream neurons to alter motor response. Thus, two different neural circuits regulate a behavioral switch between naive and learned olfactory preferences.

DOI10.1016/j.neuron.2010.11.025
Alternate JournalNeuron
PubMed ID21172617
PubMed Central IDPMC3038580
Grant List4R00NS57931 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States
R01 DC009852 / DC / NIDCD NIH HHS / United States
R01 DC009852-01A1 / DC / NIDCD NIH HHS / United States
/ / Howard Hughes Medical Institute / United States