Bilateral olfaction: two is better than one for navigation.
Do animals require bilateral input to track odors? A recent study reveals that fruit fly larvae can localize odor sources using unilateral inputs from a single functional sensory neuron, but that an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio provided by dual inputs is helpful in more challenging environments.
Raman
Baranidharan
B
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Lincoln Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Ito
Iori
I
Stopfer
Mark
M
D000818:Animals; D002633:Chemotaxis; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D012903:Smell / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*