Olfactory modulation of flight in Drosophila is sensitive, selective and rapid.

ABSTRACT: Freely flying Drosophila melanogaster respond to odors by increasing their flight speed and turning upwind. Both these flight behaviors can be recapitulated in a tethered fly, which permits the odor stimulus to be precisely controlled. In this study, we investigated the relationship between these behaviors and odor-evoked activity in primary sensory neurons. First, we verified that these behaviors are abolished by mutations that silence olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). We also found that antennal mechanosensors in Johnston's organ are required to guide upwind turns. Flight responses to an odor depend on the identity of the ORNs that are active, meaning that these behaviors involve odor discrimination and not just odor detection. Flight modulation can begin rapidly (within about 85 ms) af

SUBMITTER: Bhandawat V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2956223 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature