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#drosophila

7 posts2 participants0 posts today
Public
Albert Cardona

"Infrequent strong connections constrain connectomic predictions of neuronal function", Currier and Clandinin
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20

Quite the reversal from studies showing that deriving connectomes from correlated neural activity is not accurate because of lacking a unique solution:

"we show that physiology is a stronger predictor of wiring than wiring is of physiology"

bioRxiv · Infrequent strong connections constrain connectomic predictions of neuronal functionHow does circuit wiring constrain neural computation? Recent work has leveraged connectomic datasets to predict the function of cells and circuits in the brains of many species. However, many of these hypotheses have not been compared with physiological measurements, obscuring the limits of connectome-based functional predictions. To explore these limits, we characterized the visual responses of 91 cell types in the fruit fly and quantitatively compared them to connectomic predictions. We show that these predictions are accurate for some response properties, such as orientation tuning, but are surprisingly poor for other properties, such as receptive field size. Importantly, strong synaptic inputs are more functionally homogeneous than expected by chance, and exert an outsized influence on postsynaptic responses, providing a powerful modeling constraint. Finally, we show that physiology is a stronger predictor of wiring than wiring is of physiology, revising our understanding of the structure-function relationship in the brain. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
#neuroscience#Drosophila#connectomics
Public
flypapers

📰 "Neural Basis of Odometry in Drosophila"
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20
#Drosophila

bioRxiv · Neural Basis of Odometry in DrosophilaPath integration is a mode of navigation in which travel distance and direction are integrated to calculate position. Estimating travel distance, or odometry, requires the summation of translational vectors over time. Although neurons sensitive to translational velocity have been identified in numerous species, a definitive relationship between the activity of these translational velocity neurons and the subjective perception of distance has yet to be established. We developed a new memory-based assay to dissect the neural circuit of distance estimation. Flies can estimate distance by using self-motion, associate it with aversive stimulus onset, and use the PFN→hΔB pathway to estimate it. Thus, we provide evidence for self-motion integration for distance estimation in flies and point to the neural basis of this integration. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
Public *
Ko-Fan Chen 陳克帆

I had a very quick and superb email exchange with @FlyBase support team on orthologue assignment difference between Flybase and DIOPT. Flybase is partly funded UK but we #drosophila researchers can lose access to Flybase and the fantastic people working for it in this anti-Scientific era of USA! we need to
#standupforscience
standupforscience2025.org/

STAND UP FOR SCIENCESTAND UP FOR SCIENCEMarch 7, 2025. Washington DC and nationwide. Because science is for everyone.
Public
flypapers

📰 "Multiple methods for assessing learning and memory in Drosophila melanogaster demonstrates the highly complex, context-dependent genetic underpinnings of cognitive traits"
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20
#DrosophilaMelanogaster
#Drosophila

bioRxiv · Multiple methods for assessing learning and memory in Drosophila melanogaster demonstrates the highly complex, context-dependent genetic underpinnings of cognitive traitsLearning and memory are fundamental for an individual to be able to respond to changing stimuli in their environment. Between individuals we see variation in their ability to perform learning and memory tasks, however, it is still largely unknown what genetic factors may impact this variability. To gain better insight to the genetic components impacting variation in learning and memory, we use recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from the Drosophila synthetic population resource (DSPR), a multiparent mapping population exhibiting natural variation in many traits. Using a reward based associative learning and memory assay, we trained flies to associate an odor with a sucrose reward under starvation condition and measured olfactory learning and memory ability in y-mazes for 50 DSPR RILs. While we do not find significant QTLs for olfactory learning or memory, we found suggestive regions that may be contributing to variability in performance when trained to different odors. We provide evidence that performance with specific odors should be considered different phenotypes and introduce new methods for analysis for olfactory y-maze assays with multiple decision points. Additionally, we compare our data to previously collected place learning and memory data to show there is limited correlation in performance outcomes. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
Public *
Albert Cardona

Fully-funded PhD student opportunities in neuroscience the UK, in Clara Ferreira or Wolf Huetteroth groups: (update: Wolf is here @wolfhuette )

"We have two 4-year competitively attributed, fully-funded, PhD studentships in Drosophila neuroscience available in Newcastle-upon-Tyne"

"We are a growing Drosophila neuroscience community at Northumbria University (currently two groups) with long-standing collaborations with Portugal and Germany, and strong local ties to Newcastle and Durham Universities, reflected in the available PhD projects."

"Please get in touch for an informal chat if you are interested (Project 1: clara.ferreira@northumbria.ac.uk; Project 2: wolf.huetteroth@northumbria.ac.uk) and/or forward this to anyone you think might want to apply."

Project 1: Comparative approaches to understand the evolution of the neuronal basis of defence behaviours in Drosophila. Collaboration with Prof Marion Silies (Mainz University, Germany) and Prof Alistair McGregor (Durham University)
findaphd.com/phds/project/comp

Project 2: Play in Insects - genetic and neurobehavioural characterisation of carousel-seeking flies. Collaboration with Dr Vivek Nityananda (Newcastle University)
findaphd.com/phds/project/play

#neuroscience#Drosophila#PhDPosition
Public
flypapers

📰 "A Critical Role for the Fascin Family of Actin Bundling Proteins in Axon Development, Brain Wiring and Function"
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20
#DrosophilaMelanogaster
#Sensorimotor
#Drosophila

bioRxiv · A Critical Role for the Fascin Family of Actin Bundling Proteins in Axon Development, Brain Wiring and FunctionActin-based cell motility drives many neurodevelopmental events including guided axonal growth. Fascin is a major family of F-actin bundling proteins, but its role in axon development and brain wiring is unknown. Here, we report that fascin is required for axon development, brain wiring and function. We show that fascin is enriched in the motile filopodia of axonal growth cones and its inhibition impairs axonal extension and branching of hippocampal neurons in culture. We next provide evidence that fascin is essential for axon development and brain wiring using Drosophila melanogaster as an in vivo model. Drosophila express a single ortholog of mammalian fascin called Singed (SN), which is highly expressed in the mushroom body (MB) of the central nervous system. We observe that loss of SN results in drastic MB disruption, highlighted by α- and β-lobe defects that are consistent with altered axonal guidance. SN-null flies also exhibit defective sensorimotor behaviors as assessed by the negative geotaxis assay. MB-specific expression of SN in SN-null flies rescues MB structure and sensorimotor deficits, indicating that SN functions autonomously in MB neurons. Together, our data from primary neuronal culture and in vivo models highlight a critical role for fascin in brain development and function. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
Public
Lukas VFN 🇪🇺

#Fungus hacks natural immune system to cause neurodegeneration in fruit flies phys.org/news/2025-02-fungus-h

Toll-1-dependent immune evasion induced by fungal #infection leads to cell loss in the #Drosophila brain journals.plos.org/plosbiology/

"Beauveria bassiana was able to make the fly's innate #ImmuneSystem trigger a process that kills neurons and glia in the brain... this enables spores to beat the blood-brain barrier and start feeding on brain cells."

close-up photo of a small fly with red eyes
#Fungi#Parasites#Insects
Public
Albert Cardona

Synapses in the fly brain learning and memory centre, the mushroom body:

"Quantitative characterization of the pattern of Brp clusters across multiple individuals revealed cell-type-dependent synapse heterogeneity and stereotypy. Furthermore, we discovered previously unidentified sub-compartmental synapse configuration and its regulation by cAMP signaling."

From:
"High-throughput synapse profiling reveals cell-type-specific spatial configurations in the fly brain", by Wu et al. (Tanimoto lab) 2025
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20

bioRxiv · High-throughput synapse profiling reveals cell-type-specific spatial configurations in the fly brainCharacterization of intracellular synapse heterogeneity aides to understand the intricate computational logic of neuronal circuits. Despite recent advances in connectomics, the spatial patterns of synapses and their inter-individual variability remain largely unknown. Using directed split-GFP reconstitution, we achieved visualization of endogenous Bruchpilot (Brp) proteins, the presynaptic active zone (AZ) scaffold, in a cell-type-specific manner. By developing a high-throughput quantification pipeline, we profiled AZ structures in identified neurons of the mushroom body circuit, where intracellular synaptic pattern is crucial due to its compartmentalized connectivity. Quantitative characterization of the pattern of Brp clusters across multiple individuals revealed cell-type-dependent synapse heterogeneity and stereotypy. Furthermore, we discovered previously unidentified sub-compartmental synapse configuration and its regulation by cAMP signaling. These results of synapse profiling uncovered multi-layered organizations of AZs, ranging from neighboring synapses to consistent patterns across individuals. Teaser High-throughput profiling of single active zones revealed previously unidentified multi-layered synaptic organizations. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
#neuroscience#Drosophila#MushroomBody
Public
Albert Cardona

Excessive olfactory memory in the insomniac fruit fly mutant:

"we report our surprising findings that insomniac (inc) Drosophila short sleep mutants, which lack a crucial adaptor protein for the autism-associated Cullin-3 ubiquitin ligase, exhibited excessive olfactory memory."

And then the paper goes on to inquire into the molecular basis of this, and reports:

"find that a mild attenuation of Protein Kinase A (PKA) signaling specifically rescued the sleep and longevity phenotypes of inc mutants. Surprisingly, this mild PKA signaling reduction further boosted the excessive memory in inc mutants, coupled with further exaggerated mushroom body overgrowth phenotypes."

From:
"Cognitive hyperplasticity drives insomnia", by Huang et al. (Sigrist lab) 2024
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20

#Drosophila#neuroscience#LearningAndMemory
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