@article {370366,
	title = {Contrasting responses within a single neuron class enable sex- specific attraction in C. elegans},
	journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA},
	volume = {113},
	number = {10},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {E1392{\textendash}E1401},
	abstract = {Animals find mates and food, and avoid predators by navigating to regions within a favorable range of available sensory cues. How are these ranges set and recognized? Here we show that male C. elegans exhibit strong concentration preferences for sex- specific small molecule cues secreted by hermaphrodites, and that these preferences emerge from the collective dynamics of a single male-specific class of neurons, the CEMs. Within a single worm, CEM responses are dissimilar, not determined by anatomical classification and can be excitatory or inhibitory. Response kinetics vary by concentration, suggesting a mechanism for establishing preferences. CEM responses are enhanced in the absence of synaptic transmission, and worms with only one intact CEM show non-preferential attraction to all concentrations of ascaroside for which CEM is the primary sensor, suggesting that synaptic modulation of CEM responses is necessary for establishing preferences. A heterogeneous concentration-dependent sensory representation thus appears to allow a single neural class to set behavioral preferences and recognize ranges of sensory cues.\&nbsp;},
	url = {https://www.pnas.org/content/113/10/E1392},
	author = {Anusha Narayan and Vivek Venkatachalam and Omer Durak and Douglas K Reilly and Neelanjan Bose and Frank Schroeder and Samuel,Aravinthan and Jagan Srinivasan and Paul Sternberg}
}
@article {454806,
	title = {Distinct combinations of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate thermosensation and hygrosensation in Drosophila},
	journal = {eLife},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {e17879},
	abstract = {Ionotropic Receptors (IRs) are a large subfamily of variant ionotropicglutamate receptors present across Protostomia. While these receptors are mostextensively studied for their roles in chemosensory detection in insects, recent work has\&nbsp;implicated two family members, IR21a and IR25a, in thermosensation in Drosophila.\&nbsp;Here we characterize one of the most deeply conserved receptors, IR93a, and show\&nbsp;that it is co-expressed and functions with IR21a and IR25a to mediate physiological and\&nbsp;behavioral responses to cool temperatures. IR93a is also co-expressed with IR25a and\&nbsp;a distinct receptor, IR40a, in a discrete population of sensory neurons in the sacculus, a\&nbsp;multi-chambered pocket within the antenna. We demonstrate that this combination of\&nbsp;receptors is important for neuronal responses to dry air and behavioral discrimination of\&nbsp;humidity differences. Our results identify IR93a as a common component of molecularlyand cellularly distinct IR pathways underlying thermosensation and hygrosensation in\&nbsp;insects.\&nbsp;},
	url = {http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/05/31/056267.full.pdf+html},
	author = {Zachary A. Knecht and Ana F. Silberling and Ni, Lina and Mason Klein and Budelli, Gonzalo and Rati Bell and Liliane Abuin and Anggie J Ferrer and Aravinthan D. T. Samuel and Richard Benton and Garrity, Paul A.}
}
@article {395861,
	title = {An extrasynaptic GABAergic signal modulates a pattern of forward movement in Caenorhabditis elegans},
	journal = {eLife},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {e14197},
	abstract = {As a common neurotransmitter in the nervous system, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) modulates locomotory patterns in both vertebrates and invertebrates. However, the signaling mechanisms underlying the behavioral effects of GABAergic modulation are not completely understood. Here, we demonstrate that a GABAergic signal in C. elegans modulates the amplitude of undulatory head bending through extrasynaptic neurotransmission and conserved metabotropic receptors. We show that the GABAergic RME head motor neurons generate undulatory activity patterns that correlate with head bending and the activity of RME causally links with head bending amplitude. The undulatory activity of RME is regulated by a pair of cholinergic head motor neurons SMD, which facilitate head bending, and inhibits SMD to limit head bending. The extrasynaptic neurotransmission between SMD and RME provides a gain control system to set head bending amplitude to a value correlated with optimal efficiency of forward movement.},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14197},
	author = {Shen,Yu and Quan Wen and He Liu and Connie Zhong and Qin,Yuqi and Gareth Harris and Taizo Kawano and Wu, Min and Tianqi Xu and Samuel,Aravinthan and Zhang,Yun}
}
@article {365731,
	title = {The Ionotropic Receptors IR21a and IR25a mediate cool sensing in Drosophila},
	journal = {eLife},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {e13254},
	abstract = {Animals rely on highly sensitive thermoreceptors to seek out optimal temperatures, but the molecular mechanisms of thermosensing are not well understood. The Dorsal Organ Cool Cells (DOCCs) of the Drosophila larva are a set of exceptionally thermosensitive neurons critical for larval cool avoidance. Here we show that DOCC cool-sensing is mediated by Ionotropic Receptors (IRs), a family of sensory receptors widely studied in invertebrate chemical sensing. We find that two IRs, IR21a and IR25a, are required to mediate DOCC responses to cooling and are required for cool avoidance behavior. Furthermore, we find that ectopic expression of IR21a can confer cool-responsiveness in an Ir25a-dependent manner, suggesting an instructive role for IR21a in thermosensing. Together, these data show that IR family receptors can function together to mediate thermosensation of exquisite sensitivity.},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13254},
	author = {Ni, Lina and Mason Klein and Svec, Kathryn and Budelli, Gonzalo and Chang, Elaine and Richard Benton and Aravinthan D. T. Samuel and Garrity, Paul}
}
@article {374196,
	title = {Multimodal stimulus coding by a gustatory sensory neuron in Drosophila larvae},
	journal = {Nature Communications},
	volume = {7},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {10687},
	abstract = {Accurate perception of taste information is crucial for animal survival. In adult Drosophila, gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) perceive chemical stimuli of one specific gustatory modality associated with a stereotyped behavioural response, such as aversion or attraction. We show that GRNs of Drosophila larvae employ a surprisingly different mode of gustatory information coding. Using a novel method for calcium imaging in the larval gustatory system, we identify a multimodal GRN that responds to chemicals of different taste modalities with opposing valence, such as sweet sucrose and bitter denatonium, reliant on different sensory receptors. This multimodal neuron is essential for bitter compound avoidance, and its artificial activation is sufficient to mediate aversion. However, the neuron is also essential for the integration of taste blends. Our findings support a model for taste coding in larvae, in which distinct receptor proteins mediate different responses within the same, multimodal GRN.\&nbsp;},
	url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10687},
	author = {Lena van Giesen and Hernandez-Nunez, Luis and Sophie Delasoie-Baranek and Martino Colombo and Philippe Renaud and Bruggmann, Remy and Richard Benton and Aravinthan D. T. Samuel and Simon Sprecher}
}
@article {483551,
	title = {Neuroendocrine Modulation Sustains the C. elegans Forward Motor State},
	journal = {eLIFE},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2016},
	month = {18 Nov},
	pages = {e19887},
	abstract = {Neuromodulators shape neural circuit dynamics. Combining electron microscopy, genetics, transcriptome profiling, calcium imaging, and optogenetics, we discovered a peptidergic neuron that modulates\&nbsp;C. elegans\&nbsp;motor circuit dynamics. The Six/SO-family homeobox transcription factor UNC-39 governs lineage-specific neurogenesis to give rise to a neuron RID. RID bears the anatomic hallmarks of a specialized endocrine neuron: it harbors near-exclusive dense core vesicles that cluster periodically along the axon, and expresses multiple neuropeptides, including the FMRF-amide-related FLP-14. RID activity increases during forward movement. Ablating RID reduces the sustainability of forward movement, a phenotype partially recapitulated by removing FLP-14. Optogenetic depolarization of RID prolongs forward movement, an effect reduced in the absence of FLP-14. Together, these results establish the role of a neuroendocrine cell RID in sustaining a specific behavioral state in\&nbsp;C. elegans.},
	url = {https://elifesciences.org/content/5/e19887},
	author = {Maria A Lim and Jyothsna Chitturi and Valeriya Laskova and Jun Meng and Daniel Findeis and Anne Wiekenberg and Ben Mulcahy and Linjiao Luo and Yan Li and Yangning Lu and Wesley Hung and Yixin Qu and Chi-Yip Ho and Douglas Holmyard and Ni Ji and Rebecca McWhirter and Aravinthan D T Samuel and David M Miller and Ralf Schnabel and John A Calarco and Mei Zhen}
}
@article {357676,
	title = {Panneuronal Imaging in Roaming C. elegans},
	journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA},
	volume = {113},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {E1082-1088},
	abstract = {We present an imaging system for pan-neuronal recording in crawling\&nbsp;Caenorhabditis elegans. A spinning disk confocal microscope, modified for automated tracking of the\&nbsp;C. elegans\&nbsp;head ganglia, simultaneously records the activity and position of \~80 neurons that coexpress cytoplasmic calcium indicator GCaMP6s and nuclear localized red fluorescent protein at 10 volumes per second. We developed a behavioral analysis algorithm that maps the movements of the head ganglia to the animal{\textquoteright}s posture and locomotion. Image registration and analysis software automatically assigns an index to each nucleus and calculates the corresponding calcium signal. Neurons with highly stereotyped positions can be associated with unique indexes and subsequently identified using an atlas of the worm nervous system. To test our system, we analyzed the brainwide activity patterns of moving worms subjected to thermosensory inputs. We demonstrate that our setup is able to uncover representations of sensory input and motor output of individual neurons from brainwide dynamics. Our imaging setup and analysis pipeline should facilitate mapping circuits for sensory to motor transformation in transparent behaving animals such as\&nbsp;C. elegans\&nbsp;and\&nbsp;Drosophila\&nbsp;larva.},
	url = {http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/12/23/1507109113.abstract},
	author = {Vivek Venkatachalam and Ni Ji and Xian Wang and Christopher Clark and James Mitchell and Mason Klein and Christopher Tabone and Jeremy Florman and Hongfei Ji and Joel Greenwood and Andrew Chisholm and Jagan Srinivasan and Mark Alkema and Mei Zhen and Samuel,Aravinthan}
}
@article {364636,
	title = {The wiring diagram of a glomerular olfactory system},
	journal = {eLife},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {e14859},
	abstract = {The sense of smell enables animals to detect and react to long-distance cues according to internalized valences. Odors evoke responses from olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), whose activities are integrated and processed in olfactory glomeruli and then relayed by projection neurons (PNs) to higher brain centers. The wiring diagram with synaptic resolution, which is unknown for any glomerular olfactory system, would enable the formulation of circuit function hypotheses to explain physiological and behavioral observations. Here, we have mapped with electron microscopy the complete wiring diagram of the left and right antennal lobes of Drosophila larva, an olfactory neuropil similar to the vertebrate olfactory bulb. We found two parallel circuits processing ORN inputs. First, a canonical circuit that consists of uniglomerular PNs that relay gain-controlled ORN inputs to the learning and memory center (mushroom body) and the center for innate behaviors (lateral horn). Second, a novel circuit where multiglomerular PNs and hierarchically structured local neurons (LNs) extract complex features from odor space and relay them to multiple brain areas. We found two types of panglomerular inhibitory LNs: one primarily providing presynaptic inhibition (onto ORNs) and another also providing postsynaptic inhibition (onto PNs), indicating that these two functionally different types of inhibition are susceptible to independent modulation. The wiring diagram revealed an LN circuit that putatively implements a bistable gain control mechanism, which either computes odor saliency through panglomerular inhibition, or allows a subset of glomeruli to respond to faint aversive odors in the presence of strong appetitive odor concentrations. This switch between operational modes is regulated by both neuromodulatory neurons and non-olfactory sensory neurons. Descending neurons from higher brain areas further indicate the context-dependent nature of early olfactory processing. The complete wiring diagram of the first olfactory neuropil of a genetically tractable organism will support detailed experimental and theoretical studies of circuit function towards bridging the gap between circuits and behavior.},
	url = {https://elifesciences.org/content/5/e14859},
	author = {Berck, Matthew and Khandelwal, Avinash and Lindsey Claus and Hernandez-Nunez, Luis and Si, Guangwei and Christopher Tabone and Li, Feng and Truman, James and Fetter, Richard and Louis,Matthieu and Samuel,Aravinthan and Cardona, Albert}
}
