Comparative Connectomics: What We Learn and What We Miss

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• Tomke Stürner - Drosophila Connectomics Group, Department of Zoology and Neurobiology Division, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
• Wednesday 02 April 2025, 16:00-17:30
• Max Perutz Lecture Theatre. LMB. Cambridge..

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Daniel Sobrido-Cameán.

Understanding the function of a single neuron requires knowledge of its broader network context. Connectomics—the study of comprehensive neural connection maps, often derived from electron microscopy (EM) datasets—provides that wider context, offering a powerful approach to address fundamental questions in circuit neuroscience.

The release of fully annotated connectomes for the female adult brain1,2, and the male adult ventral nerve cord (VNC) 3,4 now enables the mapping of the ~160,000 neurons within the entire Drosophila nervous system. To comprehend the brain’s influence on motor behaviour, we focused on the Descending Neurons (DNs), a relatively small set of cells that act as a vital bottleneck in conveying essential information from the brain to the VNC . We systematically matched DNs to available Light Microscopy (LM) data to connect these two truncated EM datasets, enabling us to study circuits spanning from sensory neurons in the brain to motor output in the VNC5 . We identified broad sets of DNs that control specific subsets of motor neurons and have compared the full set of DNs in EM between the male and a female adult nerve cord dataset5,6.

Using the Drosophila walking circuit5,7 as an example, I will highlight three key aspects of connectomics research: 1. What can we learn by looking at static map of synaptic connections? 2. How can we study stereotypy and dimorphism with only 2 connectome datasets? 3. What do we miss when looking at connectivity maps?

1Dorkenwald et al. Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain. Nature 634, 124–138 (2024). 2Schlegel et al. Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing of Drosophila. Nature 634, 139–152 (2024). 3Takemura et al. A Connectome of the Male Drosophila Ventral Nerve Cord. eLife 13:RP97769 (2024). 4Marin et al. Systematic annotation of a complete adult male Drosophila nerve cord connectome reveals principles of functional organisation. eLife 13:RP97766 (2024). 5Stürner and Brooks et al. Comparative connectomics of the descending and ascending neurons of the Drosophila nervous system: stereotypy and sexual dimorphism. bioRxiv 2024.06.04.596633 (2024). 6Azevedo et al. Connectomic reconstruction of a female Drosophila ventral nerve cord. Nature 631, 360–368 (2024). 7Cheong, Eichler and Stürner et al. Transforming descending input into behavior: The organization of premotor circuits in the Drosophila Male Adult Nerve Cord connectomeeLife13:RP96084 (2024).

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