Uncovering Sex Differences in the <i>Drosophila</i> Ventral Nerve Cord Through Connectome Alignment.

ABSTRACT: There are now multiple Drosophila connectomes available, comprising both its brain and 'spinal' cord - comparing these connectomes requires first classifying neurons into cell types. Existing approaches for cell typing typically require extensive manual curation. Here we present a new method that automatically aligns connectomes via network topology alone. Using two complete male ventral nerve cord (VNC) connectomes as references, we assign cell types to ~13,000 neurons intrinsic to the female VNC, and automatically identify sex-specific and sexually dimorphic cell types. We not only provide a comprehensive census of cell types across male and female nerve cords, but we uncover connectivity differences that underlie differences in function. We focus on circuits underlying song produ

SUBMITTER: Matsliah A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC13307954 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature