Olfactory processing and learning of complex scents in insects

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For all animals, the ability to process biologically important odors - often mixtures of tens to hundreds of volatile chemicals - has a fundamental consequence for essential behaviors. Additionally, deficits in olfactory function are indicators of early onset of many neurodegenerative diseases that affect learning and memory. Despite the acceptance of the importance of odor mixtures for behavior, there are important gaps in identifying the mechanisms of olfactory processing in the brain (e.g., in the antennal lobe [AL] of insects), and how downstream areas of the brain further process that odor information during learning. This project will use an interdisciplinary approach that combines novel chemical analytical and electrophysiological techniques with simultaneous electrophysiological recordings from behaving animals (Manduca sexta moths) to understand how odors are processed and identify how this information is decoded during learning. Olfactory cues play fundamental roles in mediating insect behavior. This project will: (1) characterize the scent composition of diverse flower species pollinated by moths and identify key odorants in the scents that drive glomerular responses and elicit behavior; (2) determine the coding mechanism(s) by which the scents from these diverse flower species, which can differ in their profiles, activate the same glomerular circuit(s) to elicit behavior; and (3) use simultaneous multi-channel recording in the AL and mushroom body (the site of learning and memory) while the moth learns association between an odor and a reward to identify how mixture information is decoded and how appetitive learning modulates odor representation. The project will thus advance understanding of olfactory control of behavior of pests like moths and can contribute to the eventual control of insect vectors of human disease, like mosquitoes. Furthermore, the project will also introduce students to interdisciplinary research, as well as broadly communicate the importance of animal behavior to the public. Members of the public will be involved in the project through a citizen science project. Finally, the project includes the training of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral associates and helps prepare them for independent scientific careers.