Context-dependent inversion of the response in a single sensory neuron type reverses olfactory preference behavior

ABSTRACT The valence and salience of individual odorants are modulated by an animal’s innate preferences, learned associations, and internal state, as well as by the context of odorant presentation. The mechanisms underlying context-dependent flexibility in odor valence are not fully understood. Here we show that the behavioral response of C. elegans to bacterially-produced medium-chain alcohols switches from attraction to avoidance when presented in the background of a subset of additional attractive chemicals. This context-dependent reversal of odorant preference is driven by cell-autonomous inversion of the response to alcohols in the single AWC olfactory neuron pair. We find that while medium-chain alcohols inhibit the AWC olfactory neurons to drive attraction, these alcohols instead activate AWC to promote avoidance when presented in the background of a second AWC-sensed odorant. We show that these opposing responses are driven via engagement of different odorant-directed signal transduction pathways within AWC. Our results indicate that context-dependent recruitment of alternative intracellular signaling pathways within a single sensory neuron type conveys opposite hedonic valences, thereby providing a robust mechanism for odorant encoding and discrimination at the periphery.