A dopamine-modulated neural circuit regulating aversive taste memory in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Taste memories allow animals to modulate feeding behavior in accordance with past experience and avoid the consumption of potentially harmful food [1]. We have developed a single-fly taste memory assay to functionally interrogate the neural circuitry encoding taste memories [2]. Here, we screen a collection of Split-GAL4 lines that label small populations of neurons associated with the fly memory center-the mushroom bodies (MBs) [3]. Genetic silencing of PPL1 dopamine neurons disrupts conditioned, but not naive, feeding behavior, suggesting these neurons are selectively involved in the conditioned taste response. We identify two PPL1 subpopulations that innervate the MB α lobe and are essential for aversive taste memory. Thermogenetic activation of these dopamine neurons during training in

SUBMITTER: Masek P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4873318 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature