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Dissertation
Characterizing the sensorimotor transformation in Drosophila olfactory system
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Apr 2025
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00010921
Abstract
Animals rely on olfactory cues to guide critical behaviors such as foraging, mate selection, and predator avoidance. In Drosophila melanogaster, odor-guided locomotion offers a tractable model for dissecting the sensorimotor transformations that link olfactory input to behavioral output. While substantial work has focused on attraction, including how specific olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) classes modulate locomotor parameters like speed and curvature, the neural basis of aversion remains poorly understood. Aversive behaviors are diverse - ranging from chemotaxis to retreat, freezing, and oviposition suppression - but little is known about how individual ORN classes and their corresponding uniglomerular projection neurons (uPNs) shape these behavioral outputs. Here, we investigate the sensorimotor transformation linking the aversive ORN class Or7a to its cognate uPN, DL5-adPN. Or7a-ORNs have been implicated in oviposition suppression and innate aversion, yet the locomotor strategies they drive - and the role of DL5-adPN in conveying these signals - remains unresolved. Using a combination of behavioral assays, electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, and computational modeling, we address three key questions: (1) What transformation occurs between Or7a-ORNs and DL5-adPN. (2) What locomotor behaviors are modulated by activation of Or7a-ORNs. (3) How are these behaviors altered when DL5-adPN is silenced. Our findings reveal how the activation of a single ORN class promotes specific changes in kinematics that contribute to aversive motor programs and describe which features are preserved or modified at the level of the uPN. This work advances our understanding of how negative olfactory valence is encoded and transmitted through early sensory circuits to shape behavior.
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Details
- Title
- Characterizing the sensorimotor transformation in Drosophila olfactory system
- Creators
- Samuel Paura Wechsler
- Contributors
- Vikas Bhandawat (Advisor)Rodrigo A. España (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xi, 191 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Medicine; Neurology; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991022051052304721