Modular presynaptic assemblages scale to postsynaptic partner number.

ABSTRACT: Behavioral diversification can arise through, and is constrained by, evolutionary and inter-individual differences in neural circuit development. Moreover, alteration of focal neural parameters changes the environment in which cells connect into circuits. In the mushroom body, an associative learning center of arthropods, the number of principal Kenyon cells varies widely across species and among individuals. How such variation is developmentally accommodated by projection neurons, which provide sensory input to Kenyon cells, is not understood. In Drosophila melanogaster, we previously demonstrated that projection neurons scale their presynaptic bouton number to Kenyon cell population size. Here, we identify the developmental mechanisms underlying this input flexibility. Boutons ari

SUBMITTER: Punal VM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12803265 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature