Non-synaptic interactions between olfactory receptor neurons, a possible key feature of odor processing in flies.

ABSTRACT: When flies explore their environment, they encounter odors in complex, highly intermittent plumes. To navigate a plume and, for example, find food, they must solve several challenges, including reliably identifying mixtures of odorants and their intensities, and discriminating odorant mixtures emanating from a single source from odorants emitted from separate sources and just mixing in the air. Lateral inhibition in the antennal lobe is commonly understood to help solving these challenges. With a computational model of the Drosophila olfactory system, we analyze the utility of an alternative mechanism for solving them: Non-synaptic ("ephaptic") interactions (NSIs) between olfactory receptor neurons that are stereotypically co-housed in the same sensilla. We find that NSIs improve mixture r

SUBMITTER: Pannunzi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8668107 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature