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A Complete Electron Microscopy Volume of the Brain of Adult Drosophila melanogaster.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Zheng, Zhihao 
Lauritzen, J Scott 
Perlman, Eric 
Robinson, Camenzind G 
Nichols, Matthew 

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster has a rich repertoire of innate and learned behaviors. Its 100,000-neuron brain is a large but tractable target for comprehensive neural circuit mapping. Only electron microscopy (EM) enables complete, unbiased mapping of synaptic connectivity; however, the fly brain is too large for conventional EM. We developed a custom high-throughput EM platform and imaged the entire brain of an adult female fly at synaptic resolution. To validate the dataset, we traced brain-spanning circuitry involving the mushroom body (MB), which has been extensively studied for its role in learning. All inputs to Kenyon cells (KCs), the intrinsic neurons of the MB, were mapped, revealing a previously unknown cell type, postsynaptic partners of KC dendrites, and unexpected clustering of olfactory projection neurons. These reconstructions show that this freely available EM volume supports mapping of brain-spanning circuits, which will significantly accelerate Drosophila neuroscience. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Description

Keywords

Drosophila melanogaster, connectomics, electron microscopy, image stitching, mushroom body, neural circuits, olfaction, Animals, Brain, Brain Mapping, Connectome, Dendrites, Drosophila melanogaster, Female, Microscopy, Electron, Mushroom Bodies, Nerve Net, Neurons, Smell, Software

Journal Title

Cell

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0092-8674
1097-4172

Volume Title

174

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (203261/Z/16/Z)
European Research Council (649111)