Evolution of connectivity architecture in theDrosophilamushroom body

Abstract

ABSTRACTBrain evolution has primarily been studied at the macroscopic level by comparing the relative size of homologous brain centers between species. How neuronal circuits change at the cellular level over evolutionary time remains largely unanswered. Here, using a phylogenetically informed framework, we compare the olfactory circuits of three closely relatedDrosophilaspecies that differ radically in their chemical ecology: the generalistsDrosophila melanogasterandDrosophila simulansthat feed on fermenting fruit, andDrosophila sechelliathat specializes on ripe noni fruit. We examine a central part of the olfactory circuit that has not yet been investigated in these species — the connections between the projection neurons of the antennal lobe and the Kenyon cells of the mushroom body, an associative brain center — to identify species-specific connectivity patterns. We found that neurons encoding food odors — the DC3 neurons inD. melanogasterandD. simulansand the DL2d neurons inD. sechellia— connect more frequently with Kenyon cells, giving rise to species-specific biases in connectivity. These species-specific differences in connectivity reflect two distinct neuronal phenotypes: in the number of projection neurons or in the number of presynaptic boutons formed by individual projection neurons. Finally, behavioral analyses suggest that such increased connectivity enhances learning performance in an associative task. Our study shows how fine-grained aspects of connectivity architecture in an associative brain center can change during evolution to reflect the chemical ecology of a species.