Selective life-long suppression of an odor processing channel in response to critical period experience.

ABSTRACT: Sensory circuits undergo experience-dependent plasticity during early-life critical periods, attuning the nervous system to levels of key environmental stimuli. During a critical period in the Drosophila olfactory system, we found that exposure to ethyl butyrate (EB) induces glial phagocytosis of odorant receptor Or42a-positive olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) axon terminals which terminate in the VM7 glomerulus (Leier and Foden et al., 2025). Here, we extend these findings by establishing functional significance and circuit selectivity in this critical period paradigm. First, using a combination of two-photon Ca²⁺ imaging and the genetically-encoded voltage indicator ASAP5, we find that Or42a OSN odor-evoked responses are permanently suppressed in animals with critical per

SUBMITTER: Leier HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12338736 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature