RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Transformation of Olfactory Representations in the <em>Drosophila</em> Antennal Lobe
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 366
OP 370
DO 10.1126/science.1090782
VO 303
IS 5656
A1 Wilson, Rachel I.
A1 Turner, Glenn C.
A1 Laurent, Gilles
YR 2004
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/303/5656/366.abstract
AB Molecular genetics has revealed a precise stereotypy in the projection of primary olfactory sensory neurons onto secondary neurons. A major challenge is to understand how this mapping translates into odor responses in these second-order neurons. We investigated this question in Drosophila using whole-cell recordings in vivo. We observe that monomolecular odors generally elicit responses in large ensembles of antennal lobe neurons. Comparison of odor-evoked activity from afferents and postsynaptic neurons in the same glomerulus revealed that second-order neurons display broader tuning and more complex responses than their primary afferents. This indicates a major transformation of odor representations, implicating lateral interactions within the antennal lobe.