Reliability of an interneuron response depends on an integrated sensory state
- The Rockefeller University, United States
Abstract
The central nervous system transforms sensory information into representations that are salient to the animal. Here we define the logic of this transformation in a Caenorhabditis elegans integrating interneuron. AIA interneurons receive input from multiple chemosensory neurons that detect attractive odors. We show that reliable AIA responses require the coincidence of two sensory inputs: activation of AWA olfactory neurons that are activated by attractive odors, and inhibition of one or more chemosensory neurons that are inhibited by attractive odors. AWA activates AIA through an electrical synapse, while the disinhibitory pathway acts through glutamatergic chemical synapses. AIA interneurons have bistable electrophysiological properties consistent with their calcium dynamics, suggesting that AIA activation is a stereotyped response to an integrated stimulus. Our results indicate that AIA interneurons combine sensory information using AND-gate logic, requiring coordinated activity from multiple chemosensory neurons. We propose that AIA encodes positive valence based on an integrated sensory state.
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study, including source data, are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Cornelia I Bargmann
Funding
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
- May Dobosiewicz
- Qiang Liu
- Cornelia I Bargmann
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- May Dobosiewicz
- Qiang Liu
- Cornelia I Bargmann
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2019, Dobosiewicz et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Reliability of an interneuron response depends on an integrated sensory state
eLife 8:e50566.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50566
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