Glomerular domains and olfactory circuitry

Project: Research project

Project Details

Description

Progress towards understanding mammalian olfactory coding has been hindered by: 1) our inability to identify receptors that make a measurable impact on odor perception and 2) the highly complex and distributed nature of higher order olfactory projections in the brain. Volatile odorants are detected by a large family of olfactory receptor genes in the mouse. This includes two families of canonical odorant receptors (ORs) containing over 1,000 members, and a small family of 14 Trace Amine-Associated Receptors (TAARs). We have shown that the TAARs play a critical role in the detection of amines—a class of compounds that elicits avoidance behavior in naïve (untrained) mice. Moreover, the TAARs are required for the aversive quality of the amines. Because a majority of TAARs project to a cluster of glomeruli in the dorsal olfactory bulb, the neural circuitry underlying amine aversion can be traced from a genetically identifiable starting point. Here I propose to identify projections from TAAR glomeruli to higher brain regions, and to define their functions in odor processing. Specific Aim 1 will map the projections of olfactory bulb output neurons that get input from the TAAR glomeruli. Specific Aim 2 will optogenetically silence TAAR specific input to individual olfactory regions in order to determine their role in amine detection and aversion. Achieving these aims will be a key first step in identifying higher order neural circuitry that contributes to odor valence and olfactory perception in mammals.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date12/1/158/3/18

Funding

  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (1R03DC014565-01A1)

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