Gustatory Learning and Processing in the Drosophila Mushroom Bodies

By Colleen R Kirkhart, Kristin Scott. 2015

130 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The Drosophila mushroom bodies are critical association areas whose role in olfactory associative learning has been well characterized. Recent behavioral studies using a taste association paradigm revealed that gustatory conditioning also requires the mushroom bodies (Masek and Scott, 2010; Keene and Masek, 2012). Here, we examine the representations of tastes and the neural sites for taste associations in the mushroom bodies. Using molecular genetic approaches to target different neuronal populations, we find that the gamma lobes of the mushroom bodies and a subset of dopaminergic input neurons are required for taste associative learning. Monitoring responses to taste compounds in the mushroom body calyx with calcium imaging reveals sparse, taste-specific and organ-specific activation in the Kenyon cell dendrites of the main calyx and the dorsal accessory calyx. Our work provides insight into gustatory representations in the mushroom bodies, revealing the essential role of gustatory inputs not only as rewards and punishments but also as adaptive cues.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

1. Yoshinori Aso
2. Gerald M. Rubin
3. Glenn C. Turner
4. Toshihide Hige
5. Gregory S. X. E. Jefferis
6. Zhiyuan Lu
7. A. Wong
8. Hiromu Tanimoto

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. Gerald M. Rubin
2. Yoshinori Aso
3. Glenn C. Turner
4. Toshihide Hige
5. V. Ruta
6. Raphael Cohn
7. Ianessa Morantte

In Insect Science

1. Yoshinori Aso
2. Gerald M. Rubin
3. Gregory S. X. E. Jefferis
4. Glenn C. Turner
5. Toshihide Hige

Citations in the corpus

• Dopaminergic neurons write and update memories with cell-type-specific rules (2016, background): “Punitive or rewarding stimuli such as electric shock, heat, cold, bitter taste and sugar generally activate a complex pattern of DANs (Riemensperger et al., 2005; Mao and Davis, 2009; ; Liu et al., 2012; Tomchik, 2013; Galili et al., 2014; Das et al., 2014; Kirkhart and Scott, 2015).”
• A Complete Electron Microscopy Volume of the Brain of Adult Drosophila melanogaster (2017, background): “In the MB dorsal accessory calyx (dAC), 323 which receives gustatory, thermosensory, and visual inputs (Kirkhart and Scott, 2015; Vogt et 324 al., 2016; Yagi et al., 2016).”
• A connectome of a learning and memory center in the adult Drosophila brain (2017, background): “Sensory information enters the MB via the calyx, where the dendritic claws of Kenyon cells (KCs) receive synaptic inputs from projection neurons of olfactory and other modalities including visual, gustatory and thermal (Vogt et al., 2016; Kirkhart and Scott, 2015; Yagi et al., 2016; Caron et al., 20”