Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals
Olfactory navigation is observed across species and plays a crucial role in locating resources for survival. In the laboratory, understanding the behavioral strategies and neural circuits underlying odor-taxis requires a detailed understanding of the animal’s sensory environment. For small model org...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2023-07-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/85910 |
| _version_ | 1797743789959282688 |
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| author | Kevin S Chen Rui Wu Marc H Gershow Andrew M Leifer |
| author_facet | Kevin S Chen Rui Wu Marc H Gershow Andrew M Leifer |
| author_sort | Kevin S Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Olfactory navigation is observed across species and plays a crucial role in locating resources for survival. In the laboratory, understanding the behavioral strategies and neural circuits underlying odor-taxis requires a detailed understanding of the animal’s sensory environment. For small model organisms like Caenorhabditis elegans and larval Drosophila melanogaster, controlling and measuring the odor environment experienced by the animal can be challenging, especially for airborne odors, which are subject to subtle effects from airflow, temperature variation, and from the odor’s adhesion, adsorption, or reemission. Here, we present a method to control and measure airborne odor concentration in an arena compatible with an agar substrate. Our method allows continuous controlling and monitoring of the odor profile while imaging animal behavior. We construct stationary chemical landscapes in an odor flow chamber through spatially patterned odorized air. The odor concentration is measured with a spatially distributed array of digital gas sensors. Careful placement of the sensors allows the odor concentration across the arena to be continuously inferred in space and monitored through time. We use this approach to measure the odor concentration that each animal experiences as it undergoes chemotaxis behavior and report chemotaxis strategies for C. elegans and D. melanogaster larvae populations as they navigate spatial odor landscapes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:00:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7543f7c50da24042b482846846f90fc3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:00:30Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-7543f7c50da24042b482846846f90fc32023-08-14T08:51:13ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2023-07-011210.7554/eLife.85910Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animalsKevin S Chen0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8792-4625Rui Wu1https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8707-4075Marc H Gershow2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7528-6101Andrew M Leifer3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5362-5093Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United StatesDepartment of Physics, New York University, New York, United StatesDepartment of Physics, New York University, New York, United States; Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, United StatesPrinceton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, United States; Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, United StatesOlfactory navigation is observed across species and plays a crucial role in locating resources for survival. In the laboratory, understanding the behavioral strategies and neural circuits underlying odor-taxis requires a detailed understanding of the animal’s sensory environment. For small model organisms like Caenorhabditis elegans and larval Drosophila melanogaster, controlling and measuring the odor environment experienced by the animal can be challenging, especially for airborne odors, which are subject to subtle effects from airflow, temperature variation, and from the odor’s adhesion, adsorption, or reemission. Here, we present a method to control and measure airborne odor concentration in an arena compatible with an agar substrate. Our method allows continuous controlling and monitoring of the odor profile while imaging animal behavior. We construct stationary chemical landscapes in an odor flow chamber through spatially patterned odorized air. The odor concentration is measured with a spatially distributed array of digital gas sensors. Careful placement of the sensors allows the odor concentration across the arena to be continuously inferred in space and monitored through time. We use this approach to measure the odor concentration that each animal experiences as it undergoes chemotaxis behavior and report chemotaxis strategies for C. elegans and D. melanogaster larvae populations as they navigate spatial odor landscapes.https://elifesciences.org/articles/85910olfactionbehaviorchemotaxisnavigationodorlocomotion |
| spellingShingle | Kevin S Chen Rui Wu Marc H Gershow Andrew M Leifer Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals eLife olfaction behavior chemotaxis navigation odor locomotion |
| title | Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals |
| title_full | Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals |
| title_fullStr | Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals |
| title_short | Continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals |
| title_sort | continuous odor profile monitoring to study olfactory navigation in small animals |
| topic | olfaction behavior chemotaxis navigation odor locomotion |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/85910 |
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