Connectome-constrained networks predict neural activity across the fly visual system. Janne K. Lappalainen, Fabian D. Tschopp, Sridhama Prakhya, Mason McGill, Aljoscha Nern, Kazunori Shinomiya, Shin-ya Takemura, Eyal Gruntman, Jakob H. Macke & Srinivas C. Turaga. Nature 634, 1132–1140 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07939-3
Computational modelling, connectome analysis
Drosophila optic lobe (EM connectome, connectome and visual task constrained model)
The authors used average synapse counts between specific pre-post pairs of neural cell types that were determined using Drosophila brain EM connectome and identified excitatory vs inhibitory connections to model multilayer lattices of stereotyped neural circuit function of fruitfly visual system. The resulting substantially reduced set of free parameters in this connectome constrained model was trained on a motion detection task, which enabled successful prediction of cell-type specific contrast selectivity and motion direction selectivity.
“Our work demonstrates a strategy for generating detailed hypotheses about the mechanisms of neural circuit function from connectivity measurements.”