Olfactory processing of repellent and attractive stimuli in the brain of Drosophila

Project Information

OPRAS

Grant agreement ID: 701109

DOI

10.3030/701109

Project closed

EC signature date 23 February 2016

Start date 1 April 2017

End date 31 March 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 454,80

EU contribution

€ 183 454,80

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OPRAS (Olfactory processing of repellent and attractive stimuli in the brain of Drosophila)

Reporting period: 2017-04-01 to 2019-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project addressed the mechanisms of smell detection in insects, and how it can be studied by using advanced genetic tools. Smell detection in insects is crucially important for two reasons. First, from the fundamental neuroscience point of view, we still do not understand how activity of neurons determines whether we, or any other animal, will perceive a smell as attractive or repellent. Using insects can help us solve this fundamental problem, because insects have much fewer neurons, and because we can use sophisticated genetic tools to study and manipulate the activity of these neurons. Second, from the applied point of view, insect sense of smell is extremely important because disease vectors and agricultural pests, such as mosquitoes and med flies, use their sense of smell to find humans or fruit, respectively. Thus, understanding of how they detect and process smell is crucial for developing new efficient strategies of disease and pest control. This is also the reason why this project is important for the society worldwide. The overall objectives of this project aimed to use advanced genetic tools to unravel how attractive and repellent smells are encoded in an insect brain. In conclusion, the project: 1) has developed a novel genetic tool, split-QF, in Drosophila. This tool is derived from another tool I developed earlier, the Q-system, and will be very useful to study and manipulate neuronal function and behaviour of different insects; 2) has developed novel methods and approaches to study responses to smells in mosquito larvae by using the Q-system.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

This project has achieved several important results:
1) The development of novel genetic tools, split-QF, essential for studying neuronal function in Drosophila flies, and potentially applicable to other insects like mosquitoes. This discovery led to the publication in the journal Genetics, 1 conference presentation and 3 invited seminars.
2) The development of new approaches and methods to study olfactory function and olfactory behaviours in mosquito larvae, by using the genetic tool Q-system. I expect the publication of these results within the next 1-2 years. These results has led to 4 invited conference talks and 2 invited seminars. As a result of these presentations, I have also been recently invited to be a senior author on an invited review article in the journal Current Opinion in Insect Science.
3) Both discoveries formed the basis of my extensive public outreach program about olfactory function in flies and mosquitoes, run partially in collaboration with Manchester Fly Facility. In total, I took part in 7 outreach events (2 invited Lectures at the University of Ioannina, Greece, 2017; Science Fair for local primary schools and Body Experience Exhibition (British Science Week), University of Manchester, UK, 2017; Science Spectacular event, Manchester Museum, UK, 2017; British Science Week event for local schools, University of Manchester, UK, 2018; European Researcher’s Night public event, Manchester Museum, UK, 2018) and organised a special insect olfactory stand, manned by 8 volunteers, at the European Researchers Night 2017 at Manchester museum.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The impact of this project and of the fellowship has been two-fold:

1) Scientific impact for combatting malaria and other mosquito-transmitted diseases. New genetic approaches and methodology that I developed in the course of this project are instrumental in developing novel olfaction-based methods to malaria transmission. Indeed, the decrease in the number of malaria cases worldwide has currently stalled, partly due to the emerging insecticide resistance and climate change, that allows mosquitoes to populate previously uninhabitable cold areas of the world. New methods of mosquito control are urgently needed. This project laid the scientific basis for future olfactory-based methods to control larval and adult malaria mosquitoes.

2) Impact on my career. I have greatly benefitted from the now-published and preliminary results of this project. In particular, after receiving the Individual Fellowship I was able to secure competitive funding from the Villum Foundation (Denmark) and an Assistant Professor position at Durham University (UK). I have established several new important collaborations that will kick-start the research in my newly established laboratory and as a new PI I already received funding from the Wellcome Trust (UK). I believe that these developments are a direct consequence of the funding that I received from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual fellowship scheme.

A cartoon of Drosophila, and confocal image of its brain, with olfactory neurons in green

Fly brains, with labelled all neurons (top left), or chemosensory neurons (all other images)

Drosophila brains, labelled with the split-QF system

European Researchers Night 2017 at Manchester Museum