A visual motion detection circuit suggested by Drosophila connectomics

Shin-ya Takemura, Arjun Bharioke, Zhiyuan Lu, Aljoscha Nern, Shiv Vitaladevuni, Patricia K. Rivlin, William T. Katz, Donald J. Olbris, Stephen M. Plaza, Philip Winston, Ting Zhao, Jane Anne Horne, Richard D. Fetter, Satoko Takemura, Katerina Blazek, Lei-Ann Chang, Omotara Ogundeyi, Mathew A. Saunders, Victor Shapiro, Christopher Sigmund, Gerald M. Rubin, Louis K. Scheffer, Ian A. Meinertzhagen () and Dmitri B. Chklovskii ()
Additional contact information
Shin-ya Takemura: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Arjun Bharioke: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Zhiyuan Lu: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Aljoscha Nern: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Shiv Vitaladevuni: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Patricia K. Rivlin: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
William T. Katz: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Donald J. Olbris: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Stephen M. Plaza: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Philip Winston: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Ting Zhao: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Jane Anne Horne: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada
Richard D. Fetter: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Satoko Takemura: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Katerina Blazek: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Lei-Ann Chang: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Omotara Ogundeyi: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Mathew A. Saunders: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Victor Shapiro: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Christopher Sigmund: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Gerald M. Rubin: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Louis K. Scheffer: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Ian A. Meinertzhagen: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI
Dmitri B. Chklovskii: Janelia Farm Research Campus, HHMI

Nature, 2013, vol. 500, issue 7461, 175-181

Abstract: Abstract Animal behaviour arises from computations in neuronal circuits, but our understanding of these computations has been frustrated by the lack of detailed synaptic connection maps, or connectomes. For example, despite intensive investigations over half a century, the neuronal implementation of local motion detection in the insect visual system remains elusive. Here we develop a semi-automated pipeline using electron microscopy to reconstruct a connectome, containing 379 neurons and 8,637 chemical synaptic contacts, within the Drosophila optic medulla. By matching reconstructed neurons to examples from light microscopy, we assigned neurons to cell types and assembled a connectome of the repeating module of the medulla. Within this module, we identified cell types constituting a motion detection circuit, and showed that the connections onto individual motion-sensitive neurons in this circuit were consistent with their direction selectivity. Our results identify cellular targets for future functional investigations, and demonstrate that connectomes can provide key insights into neuronal computations.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12450 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:500:y:2013:i:7461:d:10.1038_nature12450

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature12450

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().