Multisensory learning recruits visual neurons into an olfactory memory engram
Zeynep Okray, Nils Otto, Anna A. Cook, Clifford Talbot, Ashwin Miriyala, Mart\'in Klappenbach, Ciara Stern, Kieran Desmond, Paola Vargas-Gutierrez, and Scott Waddell

TL;DR
This study reveals how multisensory learning in Drosophila recruits visual neurons into olfactory memory, enhancing memory performance through neural mechanisms involving specific neurons and neurotransmitter signaling.
Contribution
It uncovers neural mechanisms by which multisensory cues are integrated into a shared memory engram, involving specific neuron types and synaptic pathways.
Findings
Multisensory training improves memory recall compared to single modality.
Visually-selective mushroom body Kenyon Cells are essential for multisensory memory enhancement.
Dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons bridge sensory modalities during memory formation.
Abstract
Associating multiple sensory cues with a single experience or object is a fundamental process that improves object recognition and memory performance. However, neural mechanisms that bind sensory features during learning and augment memory expression are unknown. Here we demonstrate multisensory appetitive and aversive memory in Drosophila. Combining colours and odours improved memory performance, even when each sensory modality was tested alone. Temporal control of neuronal function revealed visually-selective mushroom body Kenyon Cells (KCs) to be required for enhancement of visual and olfactory memory recall after multisensory training. Synapse-level connectomics suggests that valence-relevant dopaminergic reinforcement could permit the KC-spanning serotonergic DPM neurons to bridge between previously modality-selective KC streams. Consistent with this model, DPM transmission is…
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