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Neuroscience research in Drosophila is benefiting from large-scale connectomics efforts using electron microscopy (EM) to reveal all the neurons in a brain and their connections. In order to exploit this knowledge base, researchers target individual neurons and study their function. Therefore, vast libraries of fly driver lines expressing fluorescent reporter genes in sets of neurons have been created and imaged using confocal light microscopy (LM). However, creating a fly line for driving gene expression within a single neuron found in the EM connectome remains a challenge, as it typically requires identifying a pair of fly lines where only the neuron of interest is expressed in both. This task and other emerging scientific workflows require finding similar neurons across large data sets imaged using different modalities. Here, we present NeuronBridge, a web application for easily and rapidly finding putative morphological matches between large datasets of neurons imaged using different modalities. We describe the functionality and construction of the NeuronBridge service, including its user-friendly GUI, data model, serverless cloud architecture, and massively parallel image search engine. NeuronBridge is openly accessible at http://neuronbridge.janelia.org/.

The neural circuits responsible for animal behavior remain largely unknown. We summarize new methods and present the circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses in, and proofread such large data sets. We define cell types, refine computational compartments, and provide an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel. We provide detailed circuits consisting of neurons and their chemical synapses for most of the central brain. We make the data public and simplify access, reducing the effort needed to answer circuit questions, and provide procedures linking the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents. Biologically, we examine distributions of connection strengths, neural motifs on different scales, electrical consequences of compartmentalization, and evidence that maximizing packing density is an important criterion in the evolution of the fly’s brain., eLife digest Animal brains of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest, work in broadly similar ways. Studying the brain of any one animal in depth can thus reveal the general principles behind the workings of all brains. The fruit fly Drosophila is a popular choice for such research. With about 100,000 neurons – compared to some 86 billion in humans – the fly brain is small enough to study at the level of individual cells. But it nevertheless supports a range of complex behaviors, including navigation, courtship and learning. Thanks to decades of research, scientists now have a good understanding of which parts of the fruit fly brain support particular behaviors. But exactly how they do this is often unclear. This is because previous studies showing the connections between cells only covered small areas of the brain. This is like trying to understand a novel when all you can see is a few isolated paragraphs. To solve this problem, Scheffer, Xu, Januszewski, Lu, Takemura, Hayworth, Huang, Shinomiya et al. prepared the first complete map of the entire central region of the fruit fly brain. The central brain consists of approximately 25,000 neurons and around 20 million connections. To prepare the map – or connectome – the brain was cut into very thin 8nm slices and photographed with an electron microscope. A three-dimensional map of the neurons and connections in the brain was then reconstructed from these images using machine learning algorithms. Finally, Scheffer et al. used the new connectome to obtain further insights into the circuits that support specific fruit fly behaviors. The central brain connectome is freely available online for anyone to access. When used in combination with existing methods, the map will make it easier to understand how the fly brain works, and how and why it can fail to work correctly. Many of these findings will likely apply to larger brains, including our own. In the long run, studying the fly connectome may therefore lead to a better understanding of the human brain and its disorders. Performing a similar analysis on the brain of a small mammal, by scaling up the methods here, will be a likely next step along this path.

The neural circuits responsible for animal behavior remain largely unknown. We summarize new methods and present the circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses in, and proofread such large data sets. We define cell types, refine computational compartments, and provide an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel. We provide detailed circuits consisting of neurons and their chemical synapses for most of the central brain. We make the data public and simplify access, reducing the effort needed to answer circuit questions, and provide procedures linking the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents. Biologically, we examine distributions of connection strengths, neural motifs on different scales, electrical consequences of compartmentalization, and evidence that maximizing packing density is an important criterion in the evolution of the fly’s brain.

The neural circuits responsible for behavior remain largely unknown. Previous efforts have reconstructed the complete circuits of small animals, with hundreds of neurons, and selected circuits for larger animals. Here we (the FlyEM project at Janelia and collaborators at Google) summarize new methods and present the complete circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of a much more complex animal, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses, and proofread such large data sets; new methods that define cell types based on connectivity in addition to morphology; and new methods to simplify access to a large and evolving data set. From the resulting data we derive a better definition of computational compartments and their connections; an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel; detailed circuits for most of the central brain; and exploration of the statistics and structure of different brain compartments, and the brain as a whole. We make the data public, with a web site and resources specifically designed to make it easy to explore, for all levels of expertise from the expert to the merely curious. The public availability of these data, and the simplified means to access it, dramatically reduces the effort needed to answer typical circuit questions, such as the identity of upstream and downstream neural partners, the circuitry of brain regions, and to link the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents that can be used to study their functions.Note: In the next few weeks, we will release a series of papers with more involved discussions. One paper will detail the hemibrain reconstruction with more extensive analysis and interpretation made possible by this dense connectome. Another paper will explore the central complex, a brain region involved in navigation, motor control, and sleep. A final paper will present insights from the mushroom body, a center of multimodal associative learning in the fly brain.

Recent advances in automatic image segmentation and synapse prediction in electron microscopy (EM) datasets of the brain enable more efficient reconstruction of neural connectivity. In these datasets, a single neuron can span thousands of images containing complex tree-like arbors with thousands of synapses. While image segmentation algorithms excel within narrow fields of views, the algorithms sometimes struggle to correctly segment large neurons, which require large context given their size and complexity. Conversely, humans are comparatively good at reasoning with large objects. In this paper, we introduce several semi-automated strategies that combine 3D visualization and machine guidance to accelerate connectome reconstruction. In particular, we introduce a strategy to quickly correct a segmentation through merging and cleaving, or splitting a segment along supervoxel boundaries, with both operations driven by affinity scores in the underlying segmentation. We deploy these algorithms as streamlined workflows in a tool called Neu3 and demonstrate superior performance compared to prior work, thus enabling efficient reconstruction of much larger datasets. The insights into proofreading from our work clarify the trade-offs to consider when tuning the parameters of image segmentation algorithms.

SummaryNeuronal cell types are the nodes of neural circuits that determine the flow of information within the brain. Neuronal morphology, especially the shape of the axonal arbor, provides an essential descriptor of cell type and reveals how individual neurons route their output across the brain. Despite the importance of morphology, few projection neurons in the mouse brain have been reconstructed in their entirety. Here we present a robust and efficient platform for imaging and reconstructing complete neuronal morphologies, including axonal arbors that span substantial portions of the brain. We used this platform to reconstruct more than 1,000 projection neurons in the motor cortex, thalamus, subiculum, and hypothalamus. Together, the reconstructed neurons comprise more than 75 meters of axonal length and are available in a searchable online database. Axonal shapes revealed previously unknown subtypes of projection neurons and suggest organizational principles of long-range connectivity.

Understanding memory formation, storage and retrieval requires knowledge of the underlying neuronal circuits. In Drosophila, the mushroom body (MB) is the major site of associative learning. We reconstructed the morphologies and synaptic connections of all 983 neurons within the three functional units, or compartments, that compose the adult MB’s α lobe, using a dataset of isotropic 8 nm voxels collected by focused ion-beam milling scanning electron microscopy. We found that Kenyon cells (KCs), whose sparse activity encodes sensory information, each make multiple en passant synapses to MB output neurons (MBONs) in each compartment. Some MBONs have inputs from all KCs, while others differentially sample sensory modalities. Only 6% of KC>MBON synapses receive a direct synapse from a dopaminergic neuron (DAN). We identified two unanticipated classes of synapses, KC>DAN and DAN>MBON. DAN activation produces a slow depolarization of the MBON in these DAN>MBON synapses and can weaken memory recall. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26975.001

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. Reconstruction of a connectome within the fruitfly visual medulla, containing more than 300 neurons and over 8,000 chemical synapses, reveals a candidate motion detection circuit; such a circuit operates by combining displaced visual inputs, an operation consistent with correlation based motion detection. Three papers in this issue of Nature use the retina as a model for mapping neuronal circuits from the level of individual synaptic contacts to the long-range scale of dendritic interactions. Helmstaedter et al. used electron microscopy to map a mammalian retinal circuit of close to a thousand neurons. The work reveals a new type of retinal bipolar neuron and suggests functional mechanisms for known visual computations. The other two groups study the detection of visual motion in the Drosophila visual system — a classic neural computation model. Takemura et al. used semi-automated electron microscopy to reconstruct the basic connectome (8,637 chemical synapses among 379 neurons) of Drosophila's optic medulla. Their results reveal a candidate motion detection circuit with a wiring plan consistent with direction selectivity. Maisak et al. used calcium imaging to show that T4 and T5 neurons are divided into specific subpopulations responding to motion in four cardinal directions, and are specific to 'ON' versus 'OFF' edges, respectively.

We reconstructed the synaptic circuits of seven columns in the second neuropil or medulla behind the fly's compound eye. These neurons embody some of the most stereotyped circuits in one of the most miniaturized of animal brains. The reconstructions allow us, for the first time to our knowledge, to study variations between circuits in the medulla's neighboring columns. This variation in the number of synapses and the types of their synaptic partners has previously been little addressed because methods that visualize multiple circuits have not resolved detailed connections, and existing connectomic studies, which can see such connections, have not so far examined multiple reconstructions of the same circuit. Here, we address the omission by comparing the circuits common to all seven columns to assess variation in their connection strengths and the resultant rates of several different and distinct types of connection error. Error rates reveal that, overall

Listeria monocytogenes and some other infectious bacteria polymerize their host cell’s actin into tails that propel the bacteria through the cytoplasm. Here we show that reconstitution of this behavior in simpler media resolves two aspects of the mechanism of force transduction. First, since dilute reconstitution media have no cytoskeleton, we consider what keeps the tail from being pushed backward rather than the bacterium being propelled forward. The dependence of the partitioning of motion on the friction coefficient of the tail is derived. Consistent with experiments, we find that the resistance of the tail to motion is sensitive to its length. That even small tails are stationary in intact cells is attributed to anchoring to the cytoskeleton. Second, the comparatively low viscosity of some reconstitution media magnifies the effects of diffusion, such that a large gap will develop between the bacterium and its tail if they are unattached. At the viscosities of diluted platelet extracts, steady-state gaps of several bacterium lengths are predicted. Since such gaps are not observed, we conclude that Listeria must be attached to their tails. We consider what purposes such attachments might serve under physiological conditions. The implications for related pathogens and amoeboid locomotion are also discussed.

The acrosomal process of the sea cucumber Thyone briareus can extend 90μm in 10s, but an epithelial goldfish keratocyte can only glide a few microns in the same time. Both speeds reflect the rate of extension of an actin network. The difference is in the delivery of actin monomers to the polymerization region. Diffusion supplies monomers fast enough to support the observed speed of goldfish keratocytes, but previous models have indicated that the acrosomal process of Thyone extends too rapidly for diffusion to keep up. Here we reexamine the assumptions made in earlier models and present a new model, the Actin Reconcentration Model, that includes more biological detail. Salt and water fluxes during the acrosomal reaction and the nonideality of the cytoplasm are particularly significant for actin delivery. We find that the variability of the acrosomal growth curve can be explained by the salt and water fluxes, and that nonideality magnifies the effect of actin concentration changes. We calculate the speed of process growth using biologically relevant parameters from the literature and find that the predictions of the model fall among the experimental data.

Mixed monolayers of CH3/OH‐terminated alkanethiolates chemisorbed on gold exhibit anomalous variations of wettabilities, possibly because of adsorption of a minority species from the bulk. Starting from a lattice‐gas model with proper quenched averaging over the chemically heterogeneous surface, we derive a mean‐field theory appropriate for such systems by generalizing Cahn’s wetting model. To study interplay of wetting and adsorption in the presence of impurity adsorbates, we introduce a second, coupled field representing the minority species concentration. Adsorption of the second species is allowed by assuming a step‐function profile for its concentration. The interplay of wetting and adsorption is studied as a function of the chemical heterogeneity, the temperature, and the chemical potential of the minority species. We conclude with a brief discussion of the adequacy and limitations of this model and its possible generalizations for other systems exhibiting similar phenomena involving interplay of we...

Self-assembling protein filaments are important components of a cell's superstructure. Among these, actin filaments form the backbone of protrusions and extensions such as pseudopodia. The rates at which these structures extend cover a startlingly wide range: the acrosomal process of the sea cucumber may extend 90 μm in 10 seconds, which is more than 20 times the speed at which an epithelial goldfish keratocyte crawls. We seek to explain this range by examining the delivery of actin monomers to the growing filament ends. We show that the diffusive flux of actin monomers is adequate for fueling the slower movement of crawling cells, but is insufficient to propel the quicker acrosomal process of the sea cucumber. By introducing bulk fluid flow in response to the diffusive movement of water through the cell membrane, actin delivery can be enhanced. We compare the calculated speeds to experimental observations and discuss future refinements to the model.

Many-body systems in contact with a heat reservoir and applied ordering fields typically exhibit a variety of phases characterized by a set of order-parameter fields \(\phi _i \left( {\vec r} \right)\). In the continuous limit of a single-site mean-field approximation, the equilibrium state of the system is achieved by a certain set of order-parameter fields \(\phi _i \left( {\vec r} \right)\).

Depletion is a game that reinforces central concepts of reaction rate theory through simulation. Each player buys chemicals and guides them through a series of reactions, thereby earning money to buy more chemicals. The reactions occur when players roll a high enough value on two dice to overcome an activation barrier. The reactions may be accelerated by buying heat (which allows the player to roll three dice instead of two) or catalysts (which lower the activation barrier). The value of acceleration derives from the increasing price of fresh chemicals as resources are depleted and waste products accumulate. The player who nets the most money wins the game. The details of the game are presented, with a set of follow-up questions suitable for either a quiz or discussion. Student reaction to the game is also described.

The nine elements of chemical shielding tensors contain important information about local structure, but the extraction of that information is difficult. Here we explore a semiempirical method that has the potential for providing relatively accessible structural correlations. The approach entails approximating the field-induced electron current density as entirely perpendicular to the applied field. This has two interesting consequences. (1) The resulting shielding tensor is perfectly symmetric. Thus, asymmetry in a shielding tensor is an indication of current density that is not orthogonal to the applied field. (2) The orientation dependence of the chemical shielding at a point of interest is related explicitly to the isotropic average of the chemical shielding at every point in the surrounding region. This suggests a relatively simple relationship between the orientation dependence of the chemical shielding and the molecular structure. Good correlation with experimental tensors is obtained with just one or two adjustable parameters in several series of compounds, including silicates, phosphates, hydrogen bonds, carboxyls, and amides. As expected, the results indicate that for a given center, the contribution to the shielding anisotropy that is associated with each bonded neighbor increases as the number of electrons at either the center or the neighbors increases.

Nucleogenesis! is a simple and engaging game designed to introduce undergraduate physics or chemistry students to nuclear synthesis and decay by simulation of these processes. By playing the game, students become more familiar with nuclear reactions and the "geography" of the table of isotopes.