| 研究実績の概要 |
Aminergic neurons are reported to encode various types of information including those related to motivation and values. However, how these neurons dynamically change their activity in an ethological context to encode such information is poorly understood. Here, we aim to examine the dynamics of aminergic neural activity while the animal is engaged in pheromone communication. We will study this using Drosophila melanogaster and focus on the communication mediated by pheromones contained in olfactory landmarks that are deposited by individual animals. Furthermore, we aim to characterize the context-dependent effects of olfactory landmarks on neural activity and behavior as the content of fecal materials deposited by the flies is reported to change depending on the age and social environment.
This year, we conducted a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis to quantify the amount of cuticular hydrocarbons contained in olfactory landmarks. By optimizing the sample collection procedure and the parameters for GC/MS analysis, we were able to detect multiple major cuticular hydrocarbons in single olfactory landmarks. Using a classification approach, we found that information about the identity of both sex and age of the landmark depositor can be decoded from the content of landmarks.
To examine how dopamine neurons respond to these pheromone landmarks, we developed a protocol to image the activity of all the dopamine neurons in the secondary olfactory processing center, using a two-photon microscope, while continuing to develop the bioluminescence recording method.
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| 現在までの達成度 (区分) |
現在までの達成度 (区分)
2: おおむね順調に進展している
理由
Because we were able to quantify the amount of major cuticular hydrocarbons in single olfactory landmarks, and to develop a protocol to image the activity of all the dopamine neurons in the secondary olfactory processing center, using a two-photon microscope.
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| 今後の研究の推進方策 |
We will investigate whether individual male flies show differential level of attraction to landmarks deposited by a conspecific of different age. If so, this would suggest that the fly is using the information about age contained in pheromone to communicate with each other. We will also record the response of dopamine neurons and olfactory neurons to landmarks to investigate the neural representations of pheromones. Finally, we will continue to develop a novel calcium indicator based on a different bioluminescence molecule to record from specific Dopaminergic neurons.
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