Stability of olfactory behavior syndromes in the Drosophila larva

• Published in: Scientific reports 2023-02, Vol.13 (1), p.2398-2398, Article 2398
• Main Authors: Odell, Seth R., Zito, Nicholas, Clark, David, Mathew, Dennis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/378/2624; 631/378/3917; Animal behavior; Animal populations; Animals; Antennal lobe; Behavior, Animal; Drosophila; Drosophila - physiology; Drosophila melanogaster - physiology; Drosophila Proteins; Humanities and Social Sciences; Insects; Larva - physiology; Larvae; multidisciplinary; Neurons; Odorants; Olfaction; Olfactory Pathways - physiology; Olfactory Receptor Neurons - physiology; Satiety; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Syndrome
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29523-x

Individuals of many animal populations exhibit idiosyncratic behaviors. One measure of idiosyncratic behavior is a behavior syndrome, defined as the stability of one or more behavior traits in an individual across different situations. While behavior syndromes have been described in various animal systems, their properties and the circuit mechanisms that generate them are poorly understood. We thus have an incomplete understanding of how circuit properties influence animal behavior. Here, we characterize olfactory behavior syndromes in the Drosophila larva. We show that larvae exhibit idiosyncrasies in their olfactory behavior over short time scales. They are influenced by the larva’s satiety state and odor environment. Additionally, we identified a group of antennal lobe local neurons that influence the larva’s idiosyncratic behavior. These findings reveal previously unsuspected influences on idiosyncratic behavior. They further affirm the idea that idiosyncrasies are not simply statistical phenomena but manifestations of neural mechanisms. In light of these findings, we discuss more broadly the importance of idiosyncrasies to animal survival and how they might be studied.