| NSF Org: |
IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 6, 2014 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 20, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1354159 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Sridhar Raghavachari
sraghava@nsf.gov (703)292-4845 IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2014 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $640,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $640,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2015 = $170,000.00 FY 2016 = $300,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE SEATTLE WA US 98195-1016 (206)543-4043 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
Dept of Biology, 24 Kincaid Hall Seattle WA US 98195-1800 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Activation |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
For all animals, the ability to process biologically important odors - often mixtures of tens to hundreds of volatile chemicals - has a fundamental consequence for essential behaviors. Additionally, deficits in olfactory function are indicators of early onset of many neurodegenerative diseases that affect learning and memory. Despite the acceptance of the importance of odor mixtures for behavior, there are important gaps in identifying the mechanisms of olfactory processing in the brain (e.g., in the antennal lobe [AL] of insects), and how downstream areas of the brain further process that odor information during learning. This project will use an interdisciplinary approach that combines novel chemical analytical and electrophysiological techniques with simultaneous electrophysiological recordings from behaving animals (Manduca sexta moths) to understand how odors are processed and identify how this information is decoded during learning.
Olfactory cues play fundamental roles in mediating insect behavior. This project will: (1) characterize the scent composition of diverse flower species pollinated by moths and identify key odorants in the scents that drive glomerular responses and elicit behavior; (2) determine the coding mechanism(s) by which the scents from these diverse flower species, which can differ in their profiles, activate the same glomerular circuit(s) to elicit behavior; and (3) use simultaneous multi-channel recording in the AL and mushroom body (the site of learning and memory) while the moth learns association between an odor and a reward to identify how mixture information is decoded and how appetitive learning modulates odor representation. The project will thus advance understanding of olfactory control of behavior of pests like moths and can contribute to the eventual control of insect vectors of human disease, like mosquitoes. Furthermore, the project will also introduce students to interdisciplinary research, as well as broadly communicate the importance of animal behavior to the public. Members of the public will be involved in the project through a citizen science project. Finally, the project includes the training of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral associates and helps prepare them for independent scientific careers.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Despite a century of intensive research, it remains unclear how the olfactory system processes complex scents comprised of hundreds of volatile chemicals. For species ranging from humans to insects, the ability to process biologically important odors – often mixtures of tens to hundreds of volatile chemicals – has a fundamental consequence for essential behaviors like finding mates or food. In this project, the PI and his coworkers used state-of-the-art methodologies that combine chemical analytical and electrophysiological techniques with simultaneous electrophysiological recordings from behaving insects to allow determination of how complex odors are processed in the insect brain. Using several insect pollinators including the Manduca secta moth and the mosquito, Aedes aegypti, this research found that complex scents are processed in a unique manner relative to the isolated constituents of the scent, and that only relative handful of compounds of the scent are necessary to elicit behavior. In addition, this research found that the ability to learn new scents allowed these insects the ability to utilize new food resources when their preferred were no longer abundant. Together, this project published more than 26 scientific journal articles, and the results were broadly disseminated to the public (nationally and internationally) by radio, print, and online media venues. Finally, this award solely or partially supported the interdisciplinary training of four postdoctorates, nine graduate students, and sixty-four undergraduates, as well as several outreach programs including those involved in the national Brain Awareness Week and the University of Washington's Paws-on-Science.
Last Modified: 08/21/2018
Modified by: Jeffrey A Riffell
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