@article {69633, title = {A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {634}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Oct 02}, pages = {210-219}, abstract = {

The recent assembly of the adult Drosophila melanogaster central brain connectome, containing more than 125,000 neurons and 50 million synaptic connections, provides a template for examining sensory processing throughout the brain. Here we create a leaky integrate-and-fire computational model of the entire Drosophila brain, on the basis of neural connectivity and neurotransmitter identity, to study circuit properties of feeding and grooming behaviours. We show that activation of sugar-sensing or water-sensing gustatory neurons in the computational model accurately predicts neurons that respond to tastes and are required for feeding initiation. In addition, using the model to activate neurons in the feeding region of the Drosophila brain predicts those that elicit motor neuron firing-a testable hypothesis that we validate by optogenetic activation and behavioural studies. Activating different classes of gustatory neurons in the model makes accurate predictions of how several taste modalities interact, providing circuit-level insight into aversive and appetitive taste processing. Additionally, we applied this model to mechanosensory circuits and found that computational activation of mechanosensory neurons predicts activation of a small set of neurons comprising the antennal grooming circuit, and accurately describes the circuit response upon activation of different mechanosensory subtypes. Our results demonstrate that modelling brain circuits using only synapse-level connectivity and predicted neurotransmitter identity generates experimentally testable hypotheses and can describe complete sensorimotor transformations.

}, keywords = {Animals, Brain, Computer Simulation, Connectome, Drosophila melanogaster, Feeding Behavior, Female, Grooming, Male, Models, Neurological, Motor Neurons, Optogenetics, Synapses, Taste}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-024-07763-9}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07763-9}, author = {Shiu, Philip K and Sterne, Gabriella R and Spiller, Nico and Franconville, Romain and Sandoval, Andrea and Zhou, Joie and Simha, Neha and Kang, Chan Hyuk and Yu, Seongbong and Kim, Jinseop S and Dorkenwald, Sven and Matsliah, Arie and Schlegel, Philipp and Yu, Szi-Chieh and McKellar, Claire E and Sterling, Amy and Costa, Marta and Eichler, Katharina and Bates, Alexander Shakeel and Eckstein, Nils and Funke, Jan and Jefferis, Gregory S X E and Murthy, Mala and Bidaye, Salil S and Hampel, Stefanie and Seeds, Andrew M and Scott, Kristin} } @article {45974, title = {Neuronal control of Drosophila walking direction.}, journal = {Science}, volume = {344}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr 4}, pages = {97-101}, abstract = {

Most land animals normally walk forward but switch to backward walking upon sensing an obstacle or danger in the path ahead. A change in walking direction is likely to be triggered by descending "command" neurons from the brain that act upon local motor circuits to alter the timing of leg muscle activation. Here we identify descending neurons for backward walking in Drosophila--the MDN neurons. MDN activity is required for flies to walk backward when they encounter an impassable barrier and is sufficient to trigger backward walking under conditions in which flies would otherwise walk forward. We also identify ascending neurons, MAN, that promote persistent backward walking, possibly by inhibiting forward walking. These findings provide an initial glimpse into the circuits and logic that control walking direction in Drosophila.

}, keywords = {Animals, Brain, Drosophila, Extremities, Female, Gait, Ganglia, Invertebrate, Male, Neurons, Walking}, issn = {1095-9203}, doi = {10.1126/science.1249964}, author = {Bidaye, Salil S and Machacek, Christian and Wu, Yang and Dickson, Barry J} } @article {6860, title = {Neuronal control of Drosophila courtship song.}, journal = {Neuron}, volume = {69}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Feb 10}, pages = {509-22}, abstract = {

The courtship song of the Drosophila male serves as a genetically tractable model for the investigation of the neural mechanisms of decision-making, action selection, and motor pattern generation. Singing has been causally linked to the activity of the set of neurons that express the sex-specific fru transcripts, but the specific neurons involved have not been identified. Here we identify five distinct classes of fru neuron that trigger or compose the song. Our data suggest that P1 and pIP10 neurons in the brain mediate the decision to sing, and to act upon this decision, while the thoracic neurons dPR1, vPR6, and vMS11 are components of a central pattern generator that times and shapes the song{\textquoteright}s pulses. These neurons are potentially connected in a functional circuit, with the descending pIP10 neuron linking the brain and thoracic song centers. Sexual dimorphisms in each of these neurons may explain why only males sing.

}, keywords = {Animal, Animals, Courtship, Drosophila, Drosophila Proteins, Female, Genetically Modified, Male, Nerve Net, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Neurons, Sex Characteristics, Sexual Behavior, Transcription Factors, Vocalization}, issn = {1097-4199}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuron.2011.01.011}, author = {von Philipsborn, Anne C and Liu, Tianxiao and Yu, Jai Y and Masser, Christopher and Bidaye, Salil S and Dickson, Barry J} }