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• A proximity-based labeling TurboID-surface enables to map and identify the cell surface proteins from brain tissue. • Split-TurboID enables the mapping and molecular profiling at specific cell-type interfaces in vivo. • Astrocytes control excitatory and inhibitory synapse formation and function in vivo. The astrocyte is a central glial cell and plays a critical role in the architecture and activity of neuronal circuits and brain functions through forming a tripartite synapse with neurons. Emerging evidence suggests that dysfunction of tripartite synaptic connections contributes to a variety of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Furthermore, recent advancements with transcriptome profiling, cell biological and physiological approaches have provided new insights into the molecular mechanisms into how astrocytes control synaptogenesis in the brain. In addition to these findings, we have recently developed in vivo cell-surface proximity-dependent biotinylation (BioID) approaches, TurboID-surface and Split-TurboID, to comprehensively understand the molecular composition between astrocytes and neuronal synapses. These proteomic approaches have discovered a novel molecular framework for understanding the tripartite synaptic cleft that arbitrates neuronal circuit formation and function. Here, this short review highlights novel in vivo cell-surface BioID approaches and recent advances in this rapidly evolving field, emphasizing how astrocytes regulate excitatory and inhibitory synapse formation in vitro and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a wealth of Drosophila neuroscience data have become available including cell type and connectome/synaptome datasets for both the larva and adult fly. To facilitate integration across data modalities and to accelerate the understanding of the functional logic of the fruit fly brain, we have developed FlyBrainLab, a unique open-source computing platform that integrates 3D exploration and visualization of diverse datasets with interactive exploration of the functional logic of modeled executable brain circuits. FlyBrainLab’s User Interface, Utilities Libraries and Circuit Libraries bring together neuroanatomical, neurogenetic and electrophysiological datasets with computational models of different researchers for validation and comparison within the same platform. Seeking to transcend the limitations of the connectome/synaptome, FlyBrainLab also provides libraries for molecular transduction arising in sensory coding in vision/olfaction. Together with sensory neuron activity data, these libraries serve as entry points for the exploration, analysis, comparison, and evaluation of circuit functions of the fruit fly brain.