Wind is a major navigational cue for insects and this study examined how wind direction is decoded by central neurons in the insect brain. They determined that flies combine signals from both antennae to orient to wind during olfactory search behavior. In Drosophila, movements of the antennae are detected by mechanosensory neurons, known as Johnston’s Organ (JO) neurons. The JO neurons project from the antennae through the antennal nerve towards the central brain to the antennal mechanosensory and motor center (AMMC). In the AMMC, mechanosensory information is processed by multiple second-order neurons, known as APN2 and APN3.

This study also identified novel wedge projection neurons that integrate signals across the two antennae and receive input from at least three classes of second-order neurons to produce a more linear representation of wind direction. The dataset contains behavioral and electrophysiology data. This publication also includes supplementary data. Supplementary data contains several videos, which includes confocal image stack of postsynaptic targets of JO-CE neurons, APN2s and their postsynaptic targets, APN3s and their postsynaptic targets, and B1 neurons and their postsynaptic targets.