@article {67225, title = {Comparative single-cell transcriptomics of complete insect nervous systems}, journal = {bioRxiv}, year = {2020}, month = {01/2020}, abstract = {

Molecular profiles of neurons influence information processing, but bridging the gap between genes, circuits, and behavior has been very difficult. Furthermore, the behavioral state of an animal continuously changes across development and as a result of sensory experience. How behavioral state influences molecular cell state is poorly understood. Here we present a complete atlas of the Drosophila larval central nervous system composed of over 200,000 single cells across four developmental stages. We develop polyseq, a python package, to perform cell-type analyses. We use single-molecule RNA-FISH to validate our scRNAseq findings. To investigate how internal state affects cell state, we optogentically altered internal state with high-throughput behavior protocols designed to mimic wasp sting and over activation of the memory system. We found nervous system-wide and neuron-specific gene expression changes. This resource is valuable for developmental biology and neuroscience, and it advances our understanding of how genes, neurons, and circuits generate behavior.

}, doi = {10.1101/785931}, url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/01/16/785931}, author = {Cocanougher, Benjamin T. and Wittenbach, Jason D. and Long, Xi Salina and Kohn, Andrea B. and Norekian, Tigran P. and Yan, Jinyao and Colonell, Jennifer and Masson, Jean-Baptiste and Truman, James W. and Cardona, Albert and Turaga, Srinivas C. and Singer, Robert H. and Moroz, Leonid L. and Zlatic, Marta} } @article {46557, title = {A multilevel multimodal circuit enhances action selection in Drosophila.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {520}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr 20}, pages = {633-9}, abstract = {

Natural events present multiple types of sensory cues, each detected by a specialized sensory modality. Combining information from several modalities is essential for the selection of appropriate actions. Key to understanding multimodal computations is determining the structural patterns of multimodal convergence and how these patterns contribute to behaviour. Modalities could converge early, late or at multiple levels in the sensory processing hierarchy. Here we show that combining mechanosensory and nociceptive cues synergistically enhances the selection of the fastest mode of escape locomotion in Drosophila larvae. In an electron microscopy volume that spans the entire insect nervous system, we reconstructed the multisensory circuit supporting the synergy, spanning multiple levels of the sensory processing hierarchy. The wiring diagram revealed a complex multilevel multimodal convergence architecture. Using behavioural and physiological studies, we identified functionally connected circuit nodes that trigger the fastest locomotor mode, and others that facilitate it, and we provide evidence that multiple levels of multimodal integration contribute to escape mode selection. We propose that the multilevel multimodal convergence architecture may be a general feature of multisensory circuits enabling complex input{\textendash}output functions and selective tuning to ecologically relevant combinations of cues.

}, doi = {10.1038/nature14297}, author = {Ohyama, Tomoko and Schneider-Mizell, Casey M. and Fetter, Richard D. and Aleman, Javier Valdes and Franconville, Romain and Rivera-Alba, Marta and Mensh, Brett D. and Branson, Kristin M. and Simpson, Julie H. and Truman, James W. and Cardona, Albert and Zlatic, Marta} }