Overlap and divergence of neural circuits mediating distinct behavioral responses to sugar

Abstract

How do neural circuits coordinate multiple behavioral responses to a single sensory cue? Here, we investigate how sweet taste drives appetitive behaviors in Drosophila, including feeding, locomotor suppression, spatial preference, and associative learning. We find that neural circuits mediating different innate responses to sugar are partially overlapping and diverge at the second and third layers. Connectomic analyses reveal distinct subcircuits that mediate different behaviors. Connectome-based simulations of neuronal activity predict that second-order sugar neurons act synergistically to promote downstream activity and that bitter input overrides the sugar circuit through multiple pathways acting at third- and fourth-order neurons. Consistent with the latter prediction, optogenetic experiments suggest that bitter input inhibits third- and fourth-order sugar neurons to override the sugar pathway, whereas hunger and diet act earlier in the circuit to modulate behavior. Together, these studies provide insight into how circuits are organized to drive diverse behavioral responses to a single stimulus.

Keywords: CP: Metabolism; CP: Neuroscience; Drosophila; bitter; hunger; neural circuit; optogenetics; sensory processing; sugar; taste.