Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Connectomes, or neural maps, are revolutionizing neuroscience, similar to genomics in molecular genetics.
• Previous complete connectomes were limited to simpler organisms (worms, sea squirts) with far fewer synapses than insects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the first complete connectome of an adult fruit fly, integrating brain and ventral nerve cord.
• To utilize this comprehensive connectome to explore fundamental principles of neural control in a complex organism.

Main Methods:

• Construction of the adult fruit fly connectome, encompassing the brain and ventral nerve cord.
• Analysis of neural circuits to identify patterns of connectivity and functional organization.

Main Results:

• Effector cells are primarily controlled by local sensory feedback loops within body parts.
• Long-range ascending and descending neurons link these local circuits into behavior-centric modules.
• Neural architecture is distributed, parallelized, and embodied, connecting brain regions to motor and visceral functions.

Conclusions:

• The adult fruit fly connectome provides a resource for understanding neural control.
• The identified neural architecture resembles engineered distributed control systems.
• This study reveals how complex behaviors are supported by integrated local and long-range neural circuits.