Influence of physiological state and need on behavior and neural circuitry
A hungry organism perceives the smell and taste of food much more positively than a full animal. At the same time, it is willing to take a high risk and invest time and energy to find food. Several publications show that the mushroom body of the fly, the higher brain center of insects, is essential not only for learning and memory, but also for immediate, state- and context-dependent behavioral adaptations.
What does the body tell the brain?
The physiological, hormonal and metabolic state of the body is detected by the nervous system. Various mechanisms enable this communication. Hormones, peptides and other secreted molecules travel between internal organs and the brain. Specific neurons connect brain and organs at times directly. Which exact mechanisms are involved when and how they change how brains process information to, for instance, make decisions, is a focus of many of our projects.
Dopaminergic neurons influence our behavior
A current major interest of my group is to understand the role of dopaminergic neurons, which are also found in humans, in state-dependent behavior and decision making. To this end, we focus on their heterogeneous responses to sensory cues, metabolic and physiological state, and their precise activity during walking and other movements in dynamic decision tasks (e.g., navigation, foraging, fly on the ball). Similar projects are currently underway using the mouse as a model animal.
A dopamine-gated learning circuit underpins reproductive state-dependent odor preference in Drosophila females
Boehm AC, Friedrich AB, Hunt S, Bandow P, Siju KP, De Backer JF, Claussen J, Link MH, Hofmann TF, Dawid C, Grunwald Kadow IC.
eLife 2022; Sep 21;11:e77643. doi: 10.7554/eLife.77643.
Immune receptor signaling and the mushroom body mediate post-ingestion pathogen avoidance
Kobler J, Rodriguez FJ, Petcu I, Grunwald Kadow IC
2020, Current Biology 28:S0960-9822(20)31353-1.
Valence and state-dependent population coding in dopaminergic neurons in the fly mushroom body
Siju KP, Stih V, Aimon S, Gjorgjieva J, Portugues P, Grunwald Kadow IC
2020, Current Biology 30(11):2104-2115.
A neural circuit arbitrates between perseverance and withdrawal in hungry Drosophila
Sayin S, De Backer JF, Wosniack ME, Lewis L, Siju KP, Frisch LM, Schlegel P, Edmondson-Stait A, Sharifi N, Fisher CB, Calle-Schuler S, Lauritzen S, Bock D, Costa M, Jefferis GSXE, Gjorgjieva J, Grunwald Kadow IC
Neuron 104, 544–558, online Aug 27 2019.
Inhibition of oxidative stress in cholinergic projection neurons fully rescues aging-associated olfactory circuit degeneration in Drosophila
Hussain, A, Pooryasin, A, Zhang, M, Loschek, LF, La Fortezza, M, Friedrich, AB, Blais, CM, Üçpunar, HK, Yépez, YA, Lehmann, M, Gompel, N, Gagneur, J, Sigrist, SJ and Grunwald Kadow IC
eLife 2018;7:e32018
Neuropeptides modulate female chemosensory processing upon mating in Drosophila
Hussain A*, Üçpunar HK*, Zhang M, Loschek LF, Grunwald Kadow IC
2016, PLoS Biology 14:e1002455. doi: 10.1371 * equal contribution
A higher brain circuit for immediate integration of conflicting sensory information in Drosophila
Lewis L, Siju KP, Aso Y, Friedrich AB, Bulteel AJB, Rubin GM, Grunwald Kadow IC
2015, Current Biology PMID: 26299514, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.07.015
Essential Role of the Mushroom Body in Context-Dependent CO2 Avoidance in Drosophila
Bracker , Boehm AC, Friedrich AB, Hunt S, Bandow P, Siju KP, De Backer JF, Claussen J, Link MH, Hofmann TF, Dawid C, Grunwald Kadow IC (
Current Biology 2013