Our broad goal is to understand how smell turns into behaviour in the fruit fly brain. We currently use a combination of genetic labelling and manipulation, targeted in vivo whole cell patch clamp recording and high-resolution computational neuroanatomy to study olfactory circuits.
We are particularly interested in how odour information is processed by the higher olfactory centres that mediate innate and learned behaviour.
One special interest is understanding how third order olfactory neurons of one of these higher centres, the lateral horn, integrate information from specific olfactory channels.
This process of selective integration is fundamental to perception and likely to underlie innate behavioural responses to general odours and sex pheromones.
Selected Papers
- Dolan MJ, Frechter S, Bates AS, Dan C, Huoviala P, Roberts RJ, Schlegel P, Dhawan S, Tabano R, Dionne H, Christoforou C, Close K, Sutcliffe B, Giuliani B, Li F, Costa M, Ihrke G, Meissner GW, Bock DD, Aso Y, Rubin GM, Jefferis GSXE. (2019)
Neurogenetic dissection of the Drosophila lateral horn reveals major outputs, diverse behavioural functions, and interactions with the mushroom body.
eLife 21;8: pii: e43079. - Frechter S, Bates AS, Tootoonian S, Dolan MJ, Manton J, Jamasb AR, Kohl J, Bock D, Jefferis GSXE. (2019)
Functional and anatomical specificity in a higher olfactory centre.
eLife 21;8: pii: e44590. - Dolan MJ, Belliart-Guérin G, Bates AS, Frechter S, Lampin-Saint-Amaux A, Aso Y, Roberts RJV, Schlegel P, Wong A, Hammad A, Bock D, Rubin GM, Preat T, Plaçais PY, Jefferis GSXE. (2018)
Communication from Learned to Innate Olfactory Processing Centers Is Required for Memory Retrieval in Drosophila.
Neuron 100(3): 651-668.e8. - Zheng Z, Lauritzen JS, Perlman E, Robinson CG, Nichols M, Milkie D, Torrens O, Price J, Fisher CB, Sharifi N, Calle-Schuler SA, Kmecova L, Ali IJ, Karsh B, Trautman ET, Bogovic JA, Hanslovsky P, Jefferis GSXE, Kazhdan M, Khairy K, Saalfeld S, Fetter RD, Bock DD. (2018)
A Complete Electron Microscopy Volume of the Brain of Adult Drosophila melanogaster.
Cell 174(3): 730-743.e22. - Costa, M., Manton, J.D., Ostrovsky, A.D., Prohaska, S., and Jefferis, G.S.X.E. (2016)
NBLAST: Rapid, Sensitive Comparison of Neuronal Structure and Construction of Neuron Family Databases.
Neuron 91: 293-311. - Kohl, J., Ostrovsky, A.D., Frechter, S. and Jefferis, G.S. (2013)
A Bidirectional Circuit Switch Reroutes Pheromone Signals in Male and Female Brains
Cell 155-7: 1610-1623
Group Members
- Isabella Beckett
- Sebastian Cachero
- Andrew Champion
- Shahar Frechter
- Dana Galili
- Dominik Krzeminski
- Philip Myers
- Markus Pleijzier
- Gerald Rubin
- Philipp Schlegel
- Tomke Stuerner
- Istvan Taisz