Systematic morphological and morphometric analysis of identified olfactory receptor neurons in Drosophila melanogaster
- University of California, San Diego, United States
- University of California San Diego, United States
- National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego, United States
Abstract
The biophysical properties of sensory neurons are influenced by their morphometric and morphological features, whose precise measurements require high-quality volume electron microscopy (EM). However, systematic surveys of nanoscale characteristics for identified neurons are scarce. Here, we characterize the morphology of Drosophila olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) across the majority of genetically identified sensory hairs. By analyzing serial block-face electron microscopy (SBEM) images of cryofixed antennal tissues, we compile an extensive morphometric dataset based on 122 reconstructed 3D models for 33 of the 40 identified antennal ORN types. Additionally, we observe multiple novel features - including extracellular vacuoles within sensillum lumen, intricate dendritic branching, mitochondria enrichment in select ORNs, novel sensillum types, and empty sensilla containing no neurons - which raise new questions pertinent to cell biology and sensory neurobiology. Our systematic survey is critical for future investigations into how the size and shape of sensory neurons influence their responses, sensitivity and circuit function.
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Table 1, Table 2 and Individual datasets.The SBEM image volumes are available in the Cell Image Library (http://www.cellimagelibrary.org/home). The accession numbers are CIL:54606 (Or22a/ab3A-labeled volume); CIL:54614 (Or7a/ab4A-labeled volume); CIL:54610 (Or56a/ab4B-labeled volume); CIL:54611 (Ir75c/ac3AII-labeled volume); CIL:54612 (Or47a/ab5B-labeled volume); CIL:54607 and CIL:54608 (Or47b/at4A-labeled volumes); CIL:54609 (Or88a/at4C-labeled volume).
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC016466)
- Chih-Ying Su
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC015519)
- Chih-Ying Su
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R21DC108912)
- Chih-Ying Su
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U24NS120055)
- Mark H Ellisman
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R24GM137200)
- Mark H Ellisman
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM082949)
- Mark H Ellisman
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2021, Nava Gonzales 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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Systematic morphological and morphometric analysis of identified olfactory receptor neurons in Drosophila melanogaster
eLife 10:e69896.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.69896
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