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1. Nutrigenomic regulation of sensory plasticity

   https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83979  

   Sung, Hayeon; Vaziri, Anoumid; Wilinski, Daniel; Woerner, Riley KR; Freddolino, Peter L; Dus, Monica (March 2023, eLife)

   Diet profoundly influences brain physiology, but how metabolic information is transmuted into neural activity and behavior changes remains elusive. Here, we show that the metabolic enzyme O-GlcNAc Transferase (OGT) moonlights on the chromatin of the D. melanogaster gustatory neurons to instruct changes in chromatin accessibility and transcription that underlie sensory adaptations to a high-sugar diet. OGT works synergistically with the Mitogen Activated Kinase/Extracellular signal Regulated Kinase (MAPK/ERK) rolled and its effector stripe (also known as EGR2 or Krox20) to integrate activity information. OGT also cooperates with the epigenetic silencer Polycomb Repressive Complex 2.1 (PRC2.1) to decrease chromatin accessibility and repress transcription in the high-sugar diet. This integration of nutritional and activity information changes the taste neurons’ responses to sugar and the flies’ ability to sense sweetness. Our findings reveal how nutrigenomic signaling generates neural activity and behavior in response to dietary changes in the sensory neurons. 

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2. Ecomorphology and sensory biology of bats

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25314  

   Smith, Timothy D; Santana, Sharlene E; Eiting, Thomas P (November 2023, The Anatomical Record)

   Abstract This special issue of The Anatomical Record is inspired by and dedicated to Professor Kunwar P. Bhatnagar, whose lifelong interests in biology, and long career studying bats, inspired many and advanced our knowledge of the world's only flying mammals. The 15 articles included here represent a broad range of investigators, treading topics familiar to Prof. Bhatnagar, who was interested in seemingly every aspect of bat biology. Key topics include broad themes of bat development, sensory systems, and specializations related to flight and diet. These articles paint a complex picture of the fascinating adaptations of bats, such as rapid fore limb development, ear morphologies relating to echolocation, and other enhanced senses that allow bats to exploit niches in virtually every part of the world. In this introduction, we integrate and contextualize these articles within the broader story of bat ecomorphology, providing an overview of each of the key themes noted above. This special issue will serve as a springboard for future studies both in bat biology and in the broader world of mammalian comparative anatomy and ecomorphology. 

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3. Sensory Feedback Cancellation: Developing Resonator Networks to Mimic A. leptorhynchu’s Cerebellar Processing of Sensory Feedback

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72597-5_8  

   Johnson, Sheldon P; Marsat, Gary; Szczecinski, Nicholas S (December 2024, Springer Nature Switzerland)
4. A sensory–motor theory of the neocortex

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01673-9  

   Rao, Rajesh_P N (July 2024, Nature Neuroscience)
5. Serotonergic modulation across sensory modalities

   https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00034.2020  

   Sizemore, Tyler R.; Hurley, Laura M.; Dacks, Andrew M. (June 2020, Journal of Neurophysiology)

   The serotonergic system has been widely studied across animal taxa and different functional networks. This modulatory system is therefore well positioned to compare the consequences of neuromodulation for sensory processing across species and modalities at multiple levels of sensory organization. Serotonergic neurons that innervate sensory networks often bidirectionally exchange information with these networks but also receive input representative of motor events or motivational state. This convergence of information supports serotonin’s capacity for contextualizing sensory information according to the animal’s physiological state and external events. At the level of sensory circuitry, serotonin can have variable effects due to differential projections across specific sensory subregions, as well as differential serotonin receptor type expression within those subregions. Functionally, this infrastructure may gate or filter sensory inputs to emphasize specific stimulus features or select among different streams of information. The near-ubiquitous presence of serotonin and other neuromodulators within sensory regions, coupled with their strong effects on stimulus representation, suggests that these signaling pathways should be considered integral components of sensory systems. 

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