title: Feedback from network states generates variability in a probabilistic olfactory circuit.
abstract: Variability is a prominent feature of behavior and is an active element of certain behavioral strategies. To understand how neuronal circuits control variability, we examined the propagation of sensory information in a chemotaxis circuit of C. elegans where discrete sensory inputs can drive a probabilistic behavioral response. Olfactory neurons respond to odor stimuli with rapid and reliable changes in activity, but downstream AIB interneurons respond with a probabilistic delay. The interneuron response to odor depends on the collective activity of multiple neurons-AIB, RIM, and AVA-when the odor stimulus arrives. Certain activity states of the network correlate with reliable responses to odor stimuli. Artificially generating these activity states by modifying neuronal activity increases the reliability of odor responses in interneurons and the reliability of the behavioral response to odor. The integration of sensory information with network states may represent a general mechanism for generating variability in behavior.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gordus
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Navin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pokala
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Sagi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Steven W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Flavell
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA. Electronic address: cori@rockefeller.edu.
authors.forename: Cornelia I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Bargmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D009812:Odorants; D009833:Olfactory Pathways