Figure 3.

Inserting an electrical synapse between neurons that are not naturally connected by electrical synapses. (A) Salt sensing neuron ASEL and ASER act independently to transduce salt sensation (left). A Cx36 electrical synapse can be inserted between ASEL and ASER (middle). As a result, a decrease in salt concentration, which does not normally produce a response in ASEL, elicits a calcium increase in ASEL (right)²². (B) The olfactory circuit consists of sensory neuron AWC and its downstream chemical synaptic partners interneurons AIY, AIA and AIB (left). Inserting an otherwise non-existent electrical synapse between AWC and AIY (middle) flips the AIY response to increases in benzaldehyde concentration from positive to negative, switching its intrinsic anti-correlation with AWC into correlation (right).²²