title: Dynamical feature extraction at the sensory periphery guides chemotaxis.
abstract: Behavioral strategies employed for chemotaxis have been described across phyla, but the sensorimotor basis of this phenomenon has seldom been studied in naturalistic contexts. Here, we examine how signals experienced during free olfactory behaviors are processed by first-order olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) of the Drosophila larva. We find that OSNs can act as differentiators that transiently normalize stimulus intensity-a property potentially derived from a combination of integral feedback and feed-forward regulation of olfactory transduction. In olfactory virtual reality experiments, we report that high activity levels of the OSN suppress turning, whereas low activity levels facilitate turning. Using a generalized linear model, we explain how peripheral encoding of olfactory stimuli modulates the probability of switching from a run to a turn. Our work clarifies the link between computations carried out at the sensory periphery and action selection underlying navigation in odor gradients.
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Aljoscha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulze
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gomez-Marin
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Vani G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Rajendran
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Gus
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lott
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Musy
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Parvez
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ahammad
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ajinkya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deogade
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riedl
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jarriault
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Eric T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Trautman
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, United States.
authors.forename: Madhusudhan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Venkadesan
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Shaul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Druckmann
authors.affiliation: Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States.
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jayaraman
authors.affiliation: EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Matthieu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2267-0262
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Louis
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology*; D004058:Diffusion; D004330:Drosophila / Q000502:physiology*; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009812:Odorants; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: D. melanogaster; chemotaxis; computational biology; computational modeling; electrophysiology; neuroscience; olfaction; optogenetics; sensorimotor control; systems biology