PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Srikanya Kundu AU - Anindya Ganguly AU - Tuhin Subhra Chakraborty AU - Arun Kumar AU - Obaid Siddiqi TI - Synergism and Combinatorial Coding for Binary Odor Mixture Perception in <em>Drosophila</em> AID - 10.1523/ENEURO.0056-14.2016 DP - 2016 Jul 01 TA - eneuro PG - ENEURO.0056-14.2016 VI - 3 IP - 4 4099 - http://www.eneuro.org/content/3/4/ENEURO.0056-14.2016.short 4100 - http://www.eneuro.org/content/3/4/ENEURO.0056-14.2016.full SO - eneuro2016 Jul 01; 3 AB - Most odors in the natural environment are mixtures of several compounds. Olfactory receptors housed in the olfactory sensory neurons detect these odors and transmit the information to the brain, leading to decision-making. But whether the olfactory system detects the ingredients of a mixture separately or treats mixtures as different entities is not well understood. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, we have demonstrated that fruit flies perceive binary odor mixtures in a manner that is heavily dependent on both the proportion and the degree of dilution of the components, suggesting a combinatorial coding at the peripheral level. This coding strategy appears to be receptor specific and is independent of interneuronal interactions.