Odor-evoked inhibition of olfactory sensory neurons drives olfactory perception in Drosophila

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01185-0
• Publication Date: 2017-11-01T21:41:41Z
• Authors: Li-Hui Cao; Dong Yang; Wei Wu; Xiankun Zeng; Bi-Yang Jing; Meng-Tong Li; Shanshan Qin; Chao Tang; Yuhai Tu; Dong-Gen Luo
• Keywords: Sensory neuron

Inhibitory response occurs throughout the nervous system, including peripheral olfactory system. While odor-evoked excitation in cells is known to encode odor information, molecular mechanism and functional roles of inhibition remain largely unknown. Here, we examined Drosophila sensory neurons found that inhibitory odors triggered outward receptor currents by reducing constitutive activities odorant receptors, inhibiting basal spike firing neurons. Remarkably, this elicited itself a full range behaviors from attraction avoidance, as did neuron excitation. These results indicated comparable encoding signals rather than merely regulating Furthermore, demonstrated bidirectional code with both single increases odor-coding capacity, providing means efficient encoding.