It will be updated with the source of the dataset

Since this will be a main focus of my master thesis I started a literature analysis to check how the idea of a possible “reward system” in Drosophila is addressed. Based on how authors address this topic, I categorized the results by either “differentiated” or “undifferentiated”. In this case undifferentiated means the authors were addressed certain sets of neurons as “reward neurons” or “punishment neurons”, although they could never be classified in this broad sense. For example a lot of papers of the “undifferentiated” category address dopaminergic neurons from the PAM cluster as “reward” neurons, since flies formed appetitive olfactory associative memories, when the CS (odors) were paired with optogenetic activation these neurons. Since PAM neurons are activated during sugar detection it makes sense that they can substitute for reward, but that doesn’t make them “reward neurons”. Real “reward neurons” would activated in any instance of reward, independent of whether it is sugar, mating or water. Many authors do not address this issue properly. Although this analysis is not finished yet I created two plots to visualize the general trends:

16 flies went through the test out of 48 flies

I retook the images of last week’s brains for MBON02-transtango (trans-tango mkII) imaging. Green channel shows MBON02, red channel shows post-synaptic cells of MBON02:

MBON02 trans-tango image from Kaun Lab. Left image shows trans-tango signal in red, right image shows overlay of all channels (green for MBON02, red for trans-tango, blue for nc82):

My MBON02 trans-tango images stained with anti-HA instead of anti-RFP. Flies generated by crossing trans-tango mkII line (BDSC: 95317) with MB399B (Brembslab stock number: 319). Left shows trans-tango signal in green, right shows overlay of al channels (green for trans-tango, blue for MBON02, red for nc82):

Janelia Flylight image of MB399B with 20XUAS-CsChrimson-mVenus trafficked in attP18 reporter: