The complete connectome of a learning and memory centre in an insect brain

Katharina Eichler, Feng Li, Ashok Litwin-Kumar, Youngser Park, Ingrid Andrade, Casey M. Schneider-Mizell, Timo Saumweber, Annina Huser, Claire Eschbach, Bertram Gerber, Richard D. Fetter, James W. Truman, Carey E. Priebe, L. F. Abbott (), Andreas S. Thum (), Marta Zlatic () and Albert Cardona ()
Additional contact information
Katharina Eichler: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
Feng Li: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
Ashok Litwin-Kumar: Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University
Youngser Park: Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 100 Whitehead Hall
Ingrid Andrade: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
Casey M. Schneider-Mizell: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
Timo Saumweber: Leibniz Institut für Neurobiologie
Annina Huser: University of Konstanz
Claire Eschbach: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
Bertram Gerber: Leibniz Institut für Neurobiologie
Richard D. Fetter: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
James W. Truman: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
Carey E. Priebe: Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 100 Whitehead Hall
L. F. Abbott: Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University
Andreas S. Thum: University of Konstanz
Marta Zlatic: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
Albert Cardona: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus

Nature, 2017, vol. 548, issue 7666, 175-182

Abstract: Abstract Associating stimuli with positive or negative reinforcement is essential for survival, but a complete wiring diagram of a higher-order circuit supporting associative memory has not been previously available. Here we reconstruct one such circuit at synaptic resolution, the Drosophila larval mushroom body. We find that most Kenyon cells integrate random combinations of inputs but that a subset receives stereotyped inputs from single projection neurons. This organization maximizes performance of a model output neuron on a stimulus discrimination task. We also report a novel canonical circuit in each mushroom body compartment with previously unidentified connections: reciprocal Kenyon cell to modulatory neuron connections, modulatory neuron to output neuron connections, and a surprisingly high number of recurrent connections between Kenyon cells. Stereotyped connections found between output neurons could enhance the selection of learned behaviours. The complete circuit map of the mushroom body should guide future functional studies of this learning and memory centre.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature23455 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:548:y:2017:i:7666:d:10.1038_nature23455

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

DOI: 10.1038/nature23455

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 ().