Single-cell transcriptome profiles of Drosophila melanogaster olfactory projection neurons at 12 hours after puparium formation (h APF)

Neurons in the nervous system exhibit remarkable wiring specificity that underlies the specialized functions of defined cell types. In the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) olfactory system, olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) expressing the same receptor project to a specific type of projection neuron (PN) within a glomerulus in the antennal lobe. This precise glomerular map is essential for odorant detection and serves as a premier model for studying how neuronal wiring specificity emerges. A key remaining question is how specific PNs establish this map by tiling their receptive fields—the prospective glomeruli—with high specificity and no redundancy. In this study, we profiled the single-cell transcriptomes of PNs between 12 and 18 hours after puparium formation (12–18h APF), a critical window when PNs sort their dendrites into specific regions to form a prototypic map. These data complement existing datasets from 0h, 24h, 48h APF, and adults, providing a comprehensive transcriptional profile of PN development. Overall design: Single-cell RNA-seq of Drosophila melanogaster olfactory projection neurons at 12h APF using Smart-seq2. To be comparable with the previous 0 h, 24 h, 48 h APF, and adult data, the experiment is done with the same protocol.