In Drosophila, a dedicated olfactory channel senses a male pheromone, cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), promoting female courtship while repelling males. Here, we show that separate cVA-processing streams extract qualitative and positional information. cVA sensory neurons respond to concentration differences in a 5-mm range around a male. Second-order projection neurons encode the angular position of a male by detecting inter-antennal differences in cVA concentration, which are amplified through contralateral inhibition. At the third circuit layer, we identify 47 cell types with diverse input-output connectivity. One population responds tonically to male flies, a second is tuned to olfactory looming, while a third integrates cVA and taste to coincidentally promote female mating. The separation of olfactory features resembles the mammalian what and where visual streams; together with multisensory integration, this enables behavioral responses appropriate to specific ethological contexts.

在果蝇中，专门的嗅觉通道感知雄性信息素，顺式乙酸乙酸酯（cVA），促进雌性求爱，同时排斥雄性。在这里，我们展示了单独的 cVA 处理流提取定性和位置信息。cVA 感觉神经元对雄性周围 5 毫米范围内的浓度差异做出反应。二阶投射神经元通过检测触角间 cVA 浓度差异来编码雄性的角位置，这些差异通过对侧抑制而放大。在第三电路层，我们识别了 47 种具有不同输入输出连接的细胞类型。一个群体对雄性果蝇做出强烈反应，第二个群体对嗅觉做出反应，而第三个群体则整合 cVA 和味觉以同时促进雌性交配。嗅觉特征的分离类似于哺乳动物的视觉流“什么”和“哪里” ；与多感官整合一起，这使得能够做出适合特定行为学背景的行为反应。