Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Odor motion sensing enables complex plume navigation

View ORCID ProfileNirag Kadakia, View ORCID ProfileMahmut Demir, Brenden T. Michaelis, View ORCID ProfileMatthew A. Reidenbach, View ORCID ProfileDamon A. Clark, View ORCID ProfileThierry Emonet
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.29.462473
Nirag Kadakia
1Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2Quantitative Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
3Swartz Foundation for Theoretical Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Nirag Kadakia
Mahmut Demir
1Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Mahmut Demir
Brenden T. Michaelis
4Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Matthew A. Reidenbach
4Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Matthew A. Reidenbach
Damon A. Clark
1Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2Quantitative Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
5Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
6Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Damon A. Clark
  • For correspondence: thierry.emonet@yale.edu damon.clark@yale.edu
Thierry Emonet
1Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2Quantitative Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
5Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
6Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Thierry Emonet
  • For correspondence: thierry.emonet@yale.edu damon.clark@yale.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

Insects can detect bilateral differences in odor concentration between their two antennae, enabling them to sense odor gradients. While gradients aid navigation in simple odor environments like static ribbons, their role in navigating complex plumes remains unknown. Here, we use a virtual reality paradigm to show that Drosophila use bilateral sensing for a distinct computation: detecting the motion of odor signals. Such odor direction sensing is computationally equivalent to motion detection algorithms underlying motion detection in vision. Simulations of natural plumes reveal that odor motion contains valuable directional information absent from the airflow, which Drosophila indeed exploit when navigating natural plumes. Olfactory studies dating back a century have stressed the critical role of wind sensing for insect navigation (Flügge, 1934; Kennedy and Marsh, 1974); we reveal an entirely orthogonal direction cue used by flies in natural environments, and give theoretical arguments suggesting that this cue may be of broad use across the animal kingdom.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted October 01, 2021.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Odor motion sensing enables complex plume navigation
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Odor motion sensing enables complex plume navigation
Nirag Kadakia, Mahmut Demir, Brenden T. Michaelis, Matthew A. Reidenbach, Damon A. Clark, Thierry Emonet
bioRxiv 2021.09.29.462473; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.29.462473
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Odor motion sensing enables complex plume navigation
Nirag Kadakia, Mahmut Demir, Brenden T. Michaelis, Matthew A. Reidenbach, Damon A. Clark, Thierry Emonet
bioRxiv 2021.09.29.462473; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.29.462473

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4118)
  • Biochemistry (8825)
  • Bioengineering (6529)
  • Bioinformatics (23481)
  • Biophysics (11802)
  • Cancer Biology (9221)
  • Cell Biology (13335)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7442)
  • Ecology (11422)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15171)
  • Genetics (10449)
  • Genomics (14054)
  • Immunology (9184)
  • Microbiology (22186)
  • Molecular Biology (8821)
  • Neuroscience (47615)
  • Paleontology (350)
  • Pathology (1431)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2492)
  • Physiology (3736)
  • Plant Biology (8087)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1438)
  • Synthetic Biology (2222)
  • Systems Biology (6042)
  • Zoology (1254)