Scientists Create , Detailed Diagram , of an Insect's Brain.
Engadget reports that scientists have created a detailed
"circuit map" of an insect brain, an accomplishment
that may shed light on how the brain processes data.
As reported in 'Neuroscience News,' researchers have , created a connectome, of a fruit fly larva.
The connectome is a diagram
of the insect's 3,016 neurons
and 548,000 synapses.
The detailed diagram could help scientists
understand exactly how the brain controls behavior,
learning, body functions and much more.
Up until this point, we’ve not seen
the structure of any brain except of
the roundworm C. elegans, the tadpole
of a low chordate, and the larva
of a marine annelid, all of which
have several hundred neurons, Marta Zlatic, Professor from the MRC Laboratory
of Molecular Biology, via 'Engadget'.
This means neuroscience has been
mostly operating without circuit maps.
Without knowing the structure of a brain,
we’re guessing on the way computations
are implemented. But now, we can start
gaining a mechanistic understanding
of how the brain works, Marta Zlatic, Professor from the MRC Laboratory
of Molecular Biology, via 'Engadget'.
To create the detailed diagram, the team scanned
thousands of slices from the larva's brain and integrated
the results, annotating every neural connection.
To create the detailed diagram, the team scanned
thousands of slices from the larva's brain and integrated
the results, annotating every neural connection.
Engadget reports that the team now plans to take
a closer look at structures involved with behavioral
functions that include learning and decision-making.
The team also plans on investigating
connectome activity while the insect
performs specific activities.
In the same way that genes are conserved
across the animal kingdom, I think that
the basic circuit motifs that implement
these fundamental behaviors
will also be conserved, Marta Zlatic, Professor from the MRC Laboratory
of Molecular Biology, via 'Engadget'