@article {69054,
	title = {Effects of stochastic coding on olfactory discrimination in flies and mice.},
	journal = {PLoS Biology},
	volume = {21},
	year = {2023},
	month = {2023 Oct 31},
	pages = {e3002206},
	abstract = {<p>Sparse coding can improve discrimination of sensory stimuli by reducing overlap between their representations. Two factors, however, can offset sparse coding{\textquoteright}s benefits: similar sensory stimuli have significant overlap and responses vary across trials. To elucidate the effects of these 2 factors, we analyzed odor responses in the fly and mouse olfactory regions implicated in learning and discrimination-the mushroom body (MB) and the piriform cortex (PCx). We found that neuronal responses fall along a continuum from extremely reliable across trials to extremely variable or stochastic. Computationally, we show that the observed variability arises from noise within central circuits rather than sensory noise. We propose this coding scheme to be advantageous for coarse- and fine-odor discrimination. More reliable cells enable quick discrimination between dissimilar odors. For similar odors, however, these cells overlap and do not provide distinguishing information. By contrast, more unreliable cells are decorrelated for similar odors, providing distinguishing information, though these benefits only accrue with extended training with more trials. Overall, we have uncovered a conserved, stochastic coding scheme in vertebrates and invertebrates, and we identify a candidate mechanism, based on variability in a winner-take-all (WTA) inhibitory circuit, that improves discrimination with training.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Diptera, Learning, Mice, Odorants, Olfactory Pathways, Olfactory Perception, Smell},
	issn = {1545-7885},
	doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3002206},
	author = {Srinivasan, Shyam and Daste, Simon and Modi, Mehrab N and Turner, Glenn C and Fleischmann, Alexander and Navlakha, Saket}
}
@article {67648,
	title = {Molecular characterization of projection neuron subtypes in the mouse olfactory bulb.},
	journal = {eLife},
	volume = {10},
	year = {2021},
	month = {2021 Jul 22},
	abstract = {<p>Projection neurons (PNs) in the mammalian olfactory bulb (OB) receive input from the nose and project to diverse cortical and subcortical areas. Morphological and physiological studies have highlighted functional heterogeneity, yet no molecular markers have been described that delineate PN subtypes. Here, we used viral injections into olfactory cortex and fluorescent nucleus sorting to enrich PNs for high-throughput single nucleus and bulk RNA deep sequencing. Transcriptome analysis and RNA hybridization identified distinct mitral and tufted cell populations with characteristic transcription factor network topology, cell adhesion and excitability-related gene expression. Finally, we describe a new computational approach for integrating bulk and snRNA-seq data, and provide evidence that different mitral cell populations preferentially project to different target regions. Together, we have identified potential molecular and gene regulatory mechanisms underlying PN diversity and provide new molecular entry points into studying the diverse functional roles of mitral and tufted cell subtypes.</p>
},
	issn = {2050-084X},
	doi = {10.7554/eLife.65445},
	author = {Zeppilli, Sara and Ackels, Tobias and Attey, Robin and Klimpert, Nell and Kimberly Ritola, Dr and Boeing, Stefan and Crombach, Anton and Schaefer, Andreas T and Fleischmann, Alexander}
}
