Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome.

ABSTRACT: Just as genomes revolutionized molecular genetics, connectomes (maps of neurons and synapses) are transforming neuroscience. To date, the only species with complete connectomes are worms ^1-3 and sea squirts ⁴ (10 ³ -10 ⁴ synapses). By contrast, the fruit fly is more complex (10 ⁸ synaptic connections), with a brain that supports learning and spatial memory ^5,6 and an intricate ventral nerve cord analogous to the vertebrate spinal cord ^7-11 . Here we report the first adult fly connectome that unites the brain and ventral nerve cord, and we leverage this resource to investigate principles of neural control. We show that effector cells (motor neurons, endocrine cells and efferent neurons targeting the viscera) are pr

SUBMITTER: Bates AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12324551 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature