Scientists Build 3D Map of Section of Fruit Fly Brain Responsible for Detecting Motion
Posted on August 14, 2013
Scientists have mapped the portion of a fruit fly brain that is responsible for detecting motion. It is this portion of the fly's tiny but complex brain that helps it avoid being hit with a flyswatter or eaten by a predator. The research was published here in the journal, Nature. The researchers reconstructed a connectome containing 379 neurons and 8,637 chemical synaptic contacts, within the Drosophila optic medulla. They were able to identify cell types constituting a motion detection circuit and follow the connections onto individual motion-sensitive neurons.
MIT Technology Review reports that scientists at the Janelia Farm Research campus, led by senior author Dmitri Chklovskii, created the 3D fruit fly brain map by stitching together 20,000 photos taken of ultra thin slices carved from the brain of a frozen fruit fly. 14,400 human hours were involved in the detailed undertaking in addition to the automated mapping provided by a computer algorithm.
Dr. Chklovskii told the New York Times that the team hopes this in-depth research into the nueral networks of fruit flies will help them "come up with the mathematical algorithm that nature is using to compute motion."