Researchers have published a complete map of the nervous system of Drosophila

The team at Google Research in collaboration with HHMI Janelia has presented a detailed map of the central nervous system of an adult male drosophila. The project is a logical continuation of the FlyWire initiative, expanding the possibilities for studying biological neural networks.

The published model includes around 166 thousand neurons and approximately 125 million synaptic contacts. Unlike previous stages, where only the female brain was reconstructed, the current work covers the ventral nerve cord, which is the node that connects the central nervous system to the motor circuits of the insect's body.

To create the atlas, researchers used machine learning methods that allowed for the automation of high-resolution image segmentation. The obtained data allows for detailed tracing of signal transmission pathways from sensory organs to muscles, opening up new possibilities for modeling biological behavior in a digital environment.

The publication of the data in open access allows the community to use the map to test robotics control algorithms and train neural networks. Now researchers can simulate the reactions of a fly's organism to external stimuli using the real architecture of connections, which is much more accurate than abstract neural networks.