Authors
Fergil Mills, Christopher R Lee, James R Howe, Hao Li, Maria N Keisler, Shan Shao, Felix H Taschbach, Mackenzie E Lemieux, Faith Aloboudi, Jesse White, May G Chan, Matilde Borio, Laurel R Keyes, Hannah S Chen, Fabiha Bushra, Gates P Schneider, Dani P Lemmon, Kyung J Lee, Alexa L Gross, Kanha Batra, Reesha R Patel, Meenakshi M Asokan, Jeremy Delahanty, Christian Cazares, Christopher R Heyman, Nicholas B Poll, Liezl Maree, Romy Wichmann, Talmo D Pereira, Marcus K Benna, Cory M Root, Kay M Tye
Published in
Neuron. Sep 14, 2026. Epub Sep 14, 2026.
Abstract
To ensure survival, the brain must rapidly identify threats and maintain defensive behaviors for as long as danger is present. The amygdala has been studied as a key site for fear responses, but responses to threat cues in amygdala neurons are largely transient and shorter in duration than defensive responses observed. Here, we present the amygdalostriatal transition zone (ASt) as a missing piece of the circuits mediating fear responses. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq), we demonstrate that the ASt is genetically distinct from adjacent striatal and amygdalar structures. In vivo electrophysiology and calcium imaging reveal that ASt neurons have robust, sustained responses to shock-predicting cues. Further, photostimulation of the ASt is sufficient to drive freezing and avoidance behaviors, and optogenetic inhibition experiments show that Drd2+ ASt neurons are necessary for cue-conditioned fear responses. Our findings establish the ASt as a previously unappreciated yet critical structure for encoding learned associations and directing defensive behaviors.
PMID:
42735685
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Oct 2026.
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