Multimodal and multisensory coding in the Drosophila larval peripheral gustatory center
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ABSTRACT: The ability to evaluate food palatability is innate in all animals from insects to mammals, ensuring their survival. The external taste organ at the periphery in Drosophila larvae is composed of only few sensory neurons but displays discrimination between a wide range of chemicals as well as a high level of complexity in receptor expression and cell response profile. Taking advantage of this architecturally simple but functionally complex sensory system, we tackled dissection of taste coding at organ level with cellular resolution. We combined whole-organ calcium imaging and single-cell transcriptomics to map physiological properties and molecular features of individual sense neurons. In line with taste multimodality, about one third of gustatory sense neurons responded to multiple tastants. Reinforcing on the peripheral integration of signals, we observed neuronal deactivation events within simultaneous neighboring responses, submitting the probability of inter-cellular communication through electrical coupling. Furthermore, we identified neurons responding to both mechanical and taste stimulation, indicating potential multisensory integration. On a molecular level, chemosensory cells show heterogeneity in neuromodulator expression. In addition to a broad cholinergic profile, markers on dopaminergic, glutamatergic or neuropeptidergic pathways are present either in distinct cell populations or are seemingly co-expressed. Our data further extend the sensory capacity of the larval taste system showing a large degree of multimodal as well as multisensory coding principles.
ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster
PROVIDER: GSE149975 | GEO | 2020/05/25
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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