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Functional imaging and quantification of multi-neuronal olfactory responses in C. elegans

View ORCID ProfileAlbert Lin, View ORCID ProfileShanshan Qin, View ORCID ProfileHelena Casademunt, Min Wu, Wesley Hung, Greg Cain, Nicolas Z. Tan, Raymond Valenzuela, Leila Lesanpezeshki, View ORCID ProfileCengiz Pehlevan, View ORCID ProfileVivek Venkatachalam, View ORCID ProfileMei Zhen, View ORCID ProfileAravinthan D.T. Samuel
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.27.493772
Albert Lin
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
3Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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  • For correspondence: albertlin@g.harvard.edu samuel@g.harvard.edu
Shanshan Qin
2John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
3Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Helena Casademunt
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
3Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Min Wu
5Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Wesley Hung
5Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Greg Cain
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Nicolas Z. Tan
4Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
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Raymond Valenzuela
4Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
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Leila Lesanpezeshki
5Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Cengiz Pehlevan
2John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
3Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Vivek Venkatachalam
4Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
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Mei Zhen
5Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Aravinthan D.T. Samuel
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
3Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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  • For correspondence: albertlin@g.harvard.edu samuel@g.harvard.edu
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Abstract

Many animals perceive odorant molecules by collecting information from ensembles of olfactory neurons. These neurons employ receptors that are tuned to recognize odorant molecules by chemical binding affinity. Olfactory systems are able, in principle, to detect and discriminate large numbers of odorants by using combinatorial coding strategies. Multineuronal imaging, combined with high-throughput stimulus delivery, allow for the comprehensive measurement of ensemble-level sensory representations. Here, we used microfluidics and multineuronal imaging to study olfactory representations at the sensory periphery of the nematode C. elegans. The collective activity of chemosensory neurons in C. elegans reveals high-dimensional representations of olfactory information across a broad space of odorant molecules. We reveal diverse tuning properties and dose-response curves across chemosensory neurons and across odorant molecules. We describe the unique contribution of each sensory neuron to an ensemble-level olfactory code, and show how the encoding of a set of natural stimuli, nematode pheromones, differs from the encoding of small volatile organic molecules. The integrated activity of the sensory periphery of C. elegans contains sufficient information to robustly encode the intensity and identity of a broad panel of odorants.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • ↵* These authors share senior authorship

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted May 29, 2022.
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Functional imaging and quantification of multi-neuronal olfactory responses in C. elegans
Albert Lin, Shanshan Qin, Helena Casademunt, Min Wu, Wesley Hung, Greg Cain, Nicolas Z. Tan, Raymond Valenzuela, Leila Lesanpezeshki, Cengiz Pehlevan, Vivek Venkatachalam, Mei Zhen, Aravinthan D.T. Samuel
bioRxiv 2022.05.27.493772; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.27.493772
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Functional imaging and quantification of multi-neuronal olfactory responses in C. elegans
Albert Lin, Shanshan Qin, Helena Casademunt, Min Wu, Wesley Hung, Greg Cain, Nicolas Z. Tan, Raymond Valenzuela, Leila Lesanpezeshki, Cengiz Pehlevan, Vivek Venkatachalam, Mei Zhen, Aravinthan D.T. Samuel
bioRxiv 2022.05.27.493772; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.27.493772

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