Identifying molecular instructions to hard-wire a sensory neuron's synaptic connectivity

Combinations of cell-surface receptors can mis-wire a Drosophila chemosensory neuron, increasing its axonal branching and altering axonal and synaptic targeting.

• Why it matters: Innate behaviors require pre-specified wiring, but it is unclear which cell-surface molecules encode one sensory neuron’s distinct synaptic identity versus a neighboring one.
• What they did: The team repeatedly sequenced three identified Drosophila sensory neurons with stereotyped connectivity across animals, finding transcription variability < 1%, then narrowed identity to fewer than 100 cell-surface molecules and tested receptor functions.
• The result: Functional assays verified distinct roles for these receptors in axonal versus synaptic targeting, and expressing receptor combinations in the chemosensory neuron mis-wired it and increased axonal branching.

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