Single-Cell Transcriptomes Reveal Diverse Regulatory Strategies for Olfactory Receptor Expression and Axon Targeting

Abstract

The regulatory mechanisms by which neurons coordinate their physiology and connectivity are not well understood. The Drosophila olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) provide an excellent system to investigate this question. Each ORN type expresses a unique olfactory receptor or a combination thereof, and sends their axons to a stereotyped glomerulus. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we identified 33 transcriptomic clusters for ORNs and mapped 20 to their glomerular types, demonstrating that transcriptomic clusters correspond well with anatomically and physiologically defined ORN types. Each ORN type expresses hundreds of transcription factors. Transcriptome-instructed genetic analyses revealed that 1) one broadly expressed transcription factor (Acj6) only regulates olfactory receptor expression in one ORN type and only wiring specificity in another type; 2) one type-restricted transcription factor (Forkhead) only regulates receptor expression; and 3) another type-restricted transcription factor (Unplugged) regulates both events. Thus, ORNs utilize diverse strategies and complex regulatory networks to coordinate their physiology and connectivity.

Keywords: single-cell RNA-seq, Drosophila, olfactory system, olfactory receptor neurons, olfactory receptor, axon targeting, glomeruli, neuronal type