This new map joins a map of a female fruit fly brain that was unveiled in 2024 and covers about 140,000 neurons. These two wiring diagrams, also called "connectomes," can now be compared to see if there are differences between the sexes' brains that help to explain behavioral differences reflected during mating or in aggressive actions, including sex-specific fighting moves.
This animation shows neurons that are specific to the male connectome, as well as neurons that are present in both males and females but differ between them. The male connectome will allow researchers to compare male and female fly brains and understand complex social behaviors — like mating and aggression — that can vary by sex. (Image credit: Data acquired and analyzed by the FlyEM Project Team at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, the Cambridge Connectomics Group, and Google Research. Video by Philip Hubbard/HHMI Janelia Research Campus)
Initially released as a preprint, the new fly brain map was published in the journal Cell and Current Biology Thursday (Sept. 3). The study describing the map was published alongside three other papers, each of which uses the new data to explore a specific aspect of fruit fly neurobiology.
This animation shows all the types of neurons in the central nervous system of the male fruit fly. The newly completed connectome is the first map of an entire male fruit fly central nervous system, comprising all the neurons in the brain, both optic lobes and the ventral nerve cord. (Image credit: Data acquired and analyzed by the FlyEM Project Team at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, the Cambridge Connectomics Group, and Google Research. Video by Philip Hubbard/HHMI Janelia Research Campus)
"This work also provides a technical roadmap for more ambitious connectomics projects in the future, such as those for mice and humans," Ribeiro said in a separate statement from the Champalimaud Foundation.
These neurons are responsible for allowing flies to process and react to tastes. (Image credit: Inês de Haan Vicente)
The study led by Ribeiro and other Champalimaud Foundation scientists aimed to map the circuits in the fly brain dedicated to the insect's sense of taste. Fruit flies have taste receptors in many body parts, including their legs, wings, mouthparts and inside of the throat. The researchers identified these taste receptors and traced their connections back to the fly brain. From there, they examined how those circuits interacted with those that govern behaviors such as swallowing or walking. When it comes to eating behaviors, this circuitry helps the fly determine whether a given morsel is safe or harmful and ultimately choose whether to eat it, the researchers concluded.
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While there were some networks specific to each sex, the circuits for sensation and movement are largely shared between males and females, the research found. At times, specific switches within those circuits reroute signals to different destinations in the male and female brain; the consequences of that rerouting will be a focus of future investigations.
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