Convergent projections of Drosophila olfactory neurons to specific glomeruli in the antennal lobe.
Candidate Drosophila olfactory receptors (ORs) provide molecular tools to investigate how the organization of the Drosophila olfactory system determines the coding of olfactory stimuli. Neurons in the third antennal segment and maxillary palp appear to express different ORs. Individual olfactory neurons send axonal projections to glomeruli in the antennal lobe. Using transgenic flies, we provide evidence that the neurons expressing a given OR gene, which have cell bodies distributed among neurons expressing other ORs, converge in their projections to topographically fixed glomeruli in the antennal lobe. This convergence allows for the formation of an odotopic map in the antennal lobe whose organization could provide a basis for olfactory discrimination in Drosophila.
Gao
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Q
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Nine Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
Yuan
B
B
Chess
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A
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D001616:beta-Galactosidase