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Largest brain map ever reveals fruit fly’s neurons in exquisite detail

Wiring diagram lays out connections between nearly 140,000 neurons and reveals new types of nerve cell.
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  1. Sara Reardon
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A comprehensive map of the fifty largest neural connections of the fly brain.

Researchers have mapped nearly 140,000 neurons in the fruit-fly brain. This version shows the 50 largest. Credit: Tyler Sloan and Amy Sterling for FlyWire, Princeton University (ref. 1)

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A fruit fly might not be the smartest organism, but scientists can still learn a lot from its brain. Researchers are hoping to do that now that they have a new map — the most complete for any organism so far — of the brain of a single fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). The wiring diagram, or ‘connectome’, includes nearly 140,000 neurons and captures more than 54.5 million synapses, which are the connections between nerve cells.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03190-y

Read the related News & Views: ‘A complete wiring diagram of the fruit-fly brain’

Also, listen to a related Nature podcast on this massive new map.

References

  1. Dorkenwald, S. et al. Nature 634, 124–138 (2024).

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