Olfactory processing and learning of complex scents in insects

昆虫复杂气味的嗅觉处理和学习

• 批准号: 1354159
• 负责人: Jeffrey Riffell
• 金额: $ 64万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1354159&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Olfactory; processing; learning; complex; scents

For all animals, the ability to process biologically important odors - often mixtures of tens to hundreds of volatile chemicals - has a fundamental consequence for essential behaviors. Additionally, deficits in olfactory function are indicators of early onset of many neurodegenerative diseases that affect learning and memory. Despite the acceptance of the importance of odor mixtures for behavior, there are important gaps in identifying the mechanisms of olfactory processing in the brain (e.g., in the antennal lobe [AL] of insects), and how downstream areas of the brain further process that odor information during learning. This project will use an interdisciplinary approach that combines novel chemical analytical and electrophysiological techniques with simultaneous electrophysiological recordings from behaving animals (Manduca sexta moths) to understand how odors are processed and identify how this information is decoded during learning. Olfactory cues play fundamental roles in mediating insect behavior. This project will: (1) characterize the scent composition of diverse flower species pollinated by moths and identify key odorants in the scents that drive glomerular responses and elicit behavior; (2) determine the coding mechanism(s) by which the scents from these diverse flower species, which can differ in their profiles, activate the same glomerular circuit(s) to elicit behavior; and (3) use simultaneous multi-channel recording in the AL and mushroom body (the site of learning and memory) while the moth learns association between an odor and a reward to identify how mixture information is decoded and how appetitive learning modulates odor representation. The project will thus advance understanding of olfactory control of behavior of pests like moths and can contribute to the eventual control of insect vectors of human disease, like mosquitoes. Furthermore, the project will also introduce students to interdisciplinary research, as well as broadly communicate the importance of animal behavior to the public. Members of the public will be involved in the project through a citizen science project. Finally, the project includes the training of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral associates and helps prepare them for independent scientific careers.

对于所有动物，处理生物学上重要的气味的能力（通常是数十至数百种挥发性化学物质的混合物）对基本行为具有根本性的结果。此外，嗅觉功能的缺陷是许多影响学习和记忆的神经退行性疾病的早期发作的指标。尽管接受气味混合物对行为的重要性，但在识别大脑中嗅觉加工的机制（例如，在昆虫的触角[Al]中）以及大脑的下游区域如何进一步处理学习过程中的气味信息。该项目将使用一种跨学科方法，将新型的化学分析和电生理技术与来自行为动物（Manduca sexta moths）的同时电生理记录结合在一起，以了解如何处理气味并确定在学习过程中如何解码此信息。嗅觉提示在介导昆虫行为中起着基本作用。该项目将：（1）表征由飞蛾授粉的多种花物种的气味成分，并鉴定出驱动肾小球反应并引起行为的气味中的关键气味； （2）确定这些多种花种的气味在它们的剖面上有所不同的编码机制，从而激活相同的肾小球回路以引发行为； （3）在AL和蘑菇体中使用同时进行多通道录制（学习和记忆的位置），而飞蛾学习气味和奖励之间的关联来确定混合信息的解码方式以及食用性学习如何调节气味表示。因此，该项目将提高对虫害行为行为的嗅觉控制，并可能有助于最终控制人类疾病（如蚊子）的昆虫媒介。此外，该项目还将向学生介绍跨学科研究，并广泛地传达动物行为的重要性。公众将通过公民科学项目参与该项目。最后，该项目包括对本科生，研究生和博士后同事的培训，并帮助他们为独立的科学职业做好准备。