The neuronal architecture of the mushroom body provides a logic for associative learning
Yoshinori Aso,
Daisuke Hattori,
Yang Yu,
Rebecca M Johnston,
Nirmala A Iyer,
Teri-TB Ngo,
Heather Dionne,
LF Abbott,
Richard Axel,
Hiromu Tanimoto,
Gerald M Rubin
Affiliations
Yoshinori Aso
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Daisuke Hattori
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United States
Yang Yu
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Rebecca M Johnston
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Nirmala A Iyer
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Teri-TB Ngo
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Heather Dionne
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
LF Abbott
Department of Neuroscience, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, United States; Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, United States
Richard Axel
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United States; Department of Neuroscience, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, United States; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, United States
Hiromu Tanimoto
Tohuku University Graduate School of Life Sciences, Sendai, Japan; Max-Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany
Gerald M Rubin
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
We identified the neurons comprising the Drosophila mushroom body (MB), an associative center in invertebrate brains, and provide a comprehensive map describing their potential connections. Each of the 21 MB output neuron (MBON) types elaborates segregated dendritic arbors along the parallel axons of ∼2000 Kenyon cells, forming 15 compartments that collectively tile the MB lobes. MBON axons project to five discrete neuropils outside of the MB and three MBON types form a feedforward network in the lobes. Each of the 20 dopaminergic neuron (DAN) types projects axons to one, or at most two, of the MBON compartments. Convergence of DAN axons on compartmentalized Kenyon cell–MBON synapses creates a highly ordered unit that can support learning to impose valence on sensory representations. The elucidation of the complement of neurons of the MB provides a comprehensive anatomical substrate from which one can infer a functional logic of associative olfactory learning and memory.
