AI Article Synopsis

  • Understanding connectivity in the nervous system is crucial for grasping its overall function, and this study focuses on the connectomes of the nematode C. elegans, a key model for neuroscience.
  • The research features updated quantitative connectivity matrices that include connections from sensory inputs to outputs, highlighting differences between adult male and female nervous systems.
  • It reveals that while some neurons are shared between sexes, they exhibit differences in structure and strength of connections, implicating both sexual and non-sexual pathways in behavior generation.

Article Abstract

Knowledge of connectivity in the nervous system is essential to understanding its function. Here we describe connectomes for both adult sexes of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, an important model organism for neuroscience research. We present quantitative connectivity matrices that encompass all connections from sensory input to end-organ output across the entire animal, information that is necessary to model behaviour. Serial electron microscopy reconstructions that are based on the analysis of both new and previously published electron micrographs update previous results and include data on the male head. The nervous system differs between sexes at multiple levels. Several sex-shared neurons that function in circuits for sexual behaviour are sexually dimorphic in structure and connectivity. Inputs from sex-specific circuitry to central circuitry reveal points at which sexual and non-sexual pathways converge. In sex-shared central pathways, a substantial number of connections differ in strength between the sexes. Quantitative connectomes that include all connections serve as the basis for understanding how complex, adaptive behavior is generated.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6889226PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1352-7DOI Listing

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