Sci Rep 2022 Jun 21;12(1):10421. Epub 2022 Jun 21.
Molecular Neurobiology of Behavior, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Julia-Lermontowa-Weg 3, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
By learning, through experience, which stimuli coincide with dangers, it is possible to predict outcomes and act pre-emptively to ensure survival. In insects, this process is localized to the mushroom body (MB), the circuitry of which facilitates the coincident detection of sensory stimuli and punishing or rewarding cues and, downstream, the execution of appropriate learned behaviors. Here, we focused our attention on the mushroom body output neurons (MBONs) of the γ-lobes that act as downstream synaptic partners of the MB γ-Kenyon cells (KCs) to ask how the output of the MB γ-lobe is shaped by olfactory associative conditioning, distinguishing this from non-associative stimulus exposure effects, and without the influence of downstream modulation. Read More