Journal article
Sarah G. Leinwand, Claire J. Yang, Daphne Bazopoulou, N. Chronis, J. Srinivasan, Sreekanth H. Chalasani
eLife, 2015
eLife, 2015
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DOI
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APA
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Leinwand, S. G., Yang, C. J., Bazopoulou, D., Chronis, N., Srinivasan, J., & Chalasani, S. H. (2015). Circuit mechanisms encoding odors and driving aging-associated behavioral declines in Caenorhabditis elegans. ELife.
Chicago/Turabian
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Leinwand, Sarah G., Claire J. Yang, Daphne Bazopoulou, N. Chronis, J. Srinivasan, and Sreekanth H. Chalasani. “Circuit Mechanisms Encoding Odors and Driving Aging-Associated Behavioral Declines in Caenorhabditis Elegans.” eLife (2015).
MLA
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Leinwand, Sarah G., et al. “Circuit Mechanisms Encoding Odors and Driving Aging-Associated Behavioral Declines in Caenorhabditis Elegans.” ELife, 2015.
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@article{sarah2015a,
title = {Circuit mechanisms encoding odors and driving aging-associated behavioral declines in Caenorhabditis elegans},
year = {2015},
journal = {eLife},
author = {Leinwand, Sarah G. and Yang, Claire J. and Bazopoulou, Daphne and Chronis, N. and Srinivasan, J. and Chalasani, Sreekanth H.}
}
Abstract
Chemosensory neurons extract information about chemical cues from the environment. How is the activity in these sensory neurons transformed into behavior? Using Caenorhabditis elegans, we map a novel sensory neuron circuit motif that encodes odor concentration. Primary neurons, AWCON and AWA, directly detect the food odor benzaldehyde (BZ) and release insulin-like peptides and acetylcholine, respectively, which are required for odor-evoked responses in secondary neurons, ASEL and AWB. Consistently, both primary and secondary neurons are required for BZ attraction. Unexpectedly, this combinatorial code is altered in aged animals: odor-evoked activity in secondary, but not primary, olfactory neurons is reduced. Moreover, experimental manipulations increasing neurotransmission from primary neurons rescues aging-associated neuronal deficits. Finally, we correlate the odor responsiveness of aged animals with their lifespan. Together, these results show how odors are encoded by primary and secondary neurons and suggest reduced neurotransmission as a novel mechanism driving aging-associated sensory neural activity and behavioral declines. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10181.001