Howard Hughes, Google Complete 2nd Fruit Fly Brain Map With Hundreds of Millions of Synapses
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Sep 4
Howard Hughes, Google Complete 2nd Fruit Fly Brain Map With Hundreds of Millions of Synapses
3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Sep 4
Summary
Researchers on Friday unveiled a complete neuron-by-neuron map of a male fruit fly brain, creating a second full Drosophila connectome after a female brain was mapped earlier this year.
Hundreds of millions of synapses had to be reconstructed from ultra-high-resolution brain images, a task the Howard Hughes Janelia team and Google said required both specialized sample preparation and large-scale computer analysis.
The new map gives scientists a direct way to compare male and female fly brains while also serving as a research tool for studying how sensory input is transformed into memory, movement and other outputs.
The collaboration also refined mapping methods that researchers expect to apply to increasingly complex nervous systems, potentially extending from insects to vertebrates.