Octopamine Shifts the Behavioral Response From Indecision to Approach or Aversion in Drosophila melanogaster

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
Gerbera Claßen, Henrike Scholz

Abstract

Animals must make constant decisions whether to respond to external sensory stimuli or not to respond. The activation of positive and/or negative reinforcers might bias the behavioral response towards approach or aversion. To analyze whether the activation of the octopaminergic neurotransmitter system can shift the decision between two identical odor sources, we active in Drosophila melanogaster different sets of octopaminergic neurons using optogenetics and analyze the choice of the flies using a binary odor trap assay. We show that the release of octopamine from a set of neurons and not acetylcholine acts as positive reinforcer for one food odor source resulting in attraction. The activation of a subset of these neurons causes the opposite behavior and results in aversion. This aversion is due to octopamine release and not tyramine, since in Tyramine-β-hydroxylase mutants (Tβh) lacking octopamine, the aversion is suppressed. We show that when given the choice between two different attractive food odor sources the activation of the octopaminergic neurotransmitter system switches the attraction for ethanol-containing food odor to a less attractive food odor. Consistent with the requirement for octopamine in biasing the behavior...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 23, 2018·Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research·Julie A MustardAlexander Stoker
Sep 19, 2019·Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research·Henrike Scholz
Feb 26, 2020·PLoS Genetics·Lewis M ShererSarah J Certel
Jan 8, 2020·Journal of Neurogenetics·Nadine Ehmann, Dennis Pauls
Apr 3, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Thomas Roeder
Jan 2, 2021·Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience·Maggie M ChvilicekAdrian Rothenfluh
Nov 7, 2020·Molecules : a Journal of Synthetic Chemistry and Natural Product Chemistry·Soledad Quiroz-CarreñoJulio Alarcón-Enos
Jun 8, 2021·Journal of Neurogenetics·Anne S OepenKarla R Kaun
Aug 7, 2021·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Maarten Wissink, Volker Nehring

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