Predicting modular functions and neural coding of behavior from a synaptic wiring diagram.

A long-standing goal in neuroscience is to understand how a circuit's form influences its function. Here, we reconstruct and analyze a synaptic wiring diagram of the larval zebrafish brainstem to predict key functional properties and validate them through comparison with physiological data. We identify modules of strongly connected neurons that turn out to be specialized for different behavioral functions, the control of eye and body movements.

Neuronal parts list and wiring diagram for a visual system.

A catalogue of neuronal cell types has often been called a 'parts list' of the brain, and regarded as a prerequisite for understanding brain function. In the optic lobe of Drosophila, rules of connectivity between cell types have already proven to be essential for understanding fly vision. Here we analyse the fly connectome to complete the list of cell types intrinsic to the optic lobe, as well as the rules governing their connectivity.

Neuronal "parts list" and wiring diagram for a visual system.

A catalog of neuronal cell types has often been called a "parts list" of the brain, and regarded as a prerequisite for understanding brain function. In the optic lobe of , rules of connectivity between cell types have already proven essential for understanding fly vision. Here we analyze the fly connectome to complete the list of cell types intrinsic to the optic lobe, as well as the rules governing their connectivity.

Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain.

Connections between neurons can be mapped by acquiring and analyzing electron microscopic (EM) brain images. In recent years, this approach has been applied to chunks of brains to reconstruct local connectivity maps that are highly informative, yet inadequate for understanding brain function more globally. Here, we present the first neuronal wiring diagram of a whole adult brain, containing 5×10 chemical synapses between ~130,000 neurons reconstructed from a female .

Cyclic structure with cellular precision in a vertebrate sensorimotor neural circuit.

Neuronal wiring diagrams reconstructed by electron microscopy pose new questions about the organization of nervous systems following the time-honored tradition of cross-species comparisons. The C. elegans connectome has been conceptualized as a sensorimotor circuit that is approximately feedforward, starting from sensory neurons proceeding to interneurons and ending with motor neurons.

Special nuclear layer contacts between starburst amacrine cells in the mouse retina.

Starburst amacrine cells are a prominent neuron type in the mammalian retina that has been well-studied for its role in direction-selective information processing. One specific property of these cells is that their dendrites tightly stratify at specific depths within the inner plexiform layer (IPL), which, together with their unique expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), has made them the most common depth marker for studying other retinal neurons in the IPL. This stratifying property makes it unexpected that they could routinely have dendrites reaching into the nuclear layer or that they could have somatic contact specializations, which is exactly what we have found in this study.