1. Neuroscience

A connectome of a learning and memory center in the adult Drosophila brain

  1. Shin-ya Takemura  Is a corresponding author
  2. Yoshinori Aso
  3. Toshihide Hige
  4. Allan Wong
  5. Zhiyuan Lu
  6. C Shan Xu
  7. Patricia K Rivlin
  8. Harald F Hess
  9. Ting Zhao
  10. Toufiq Parag
  11. Stuart Berg
  12. Gary Huang
  13. William Katz
  14. Donald J Olbris
  15. Stephen Plaza
  16. Lowell Umayam
  17. Roxanne Aniceto
  18. Lei-Ann Chang
  19. Shirley Lauchie
  20. Omotara Ogundeyi
  21. Christopher Ordish
  22. Aya Shinomiya
  23. Christopher Sigmund
  24. Satoko Takemura
  25. Julie Tran
  26. Glenn C Turner
  27. Gerald M Rubin
  28. Louis K Scheffer  Is a corresponding author
  1. Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26975
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Cite this article
  1. Shin-ya Takemura
  2. Yoshinori Aso
  3. Toshihide Hige
  4. Allan Wong
  5. Zhiyuan Lu
  6. C Shan Xu
  7. Patricia K Rivlin
  8. Harald F Hess
  9. Ting Zhao
  10. Toufiq Parag
  11. Stuart Berg
  12. Gary Huang
  13. William Katz
  14. Donald J Olbris
  15. Stephen Plaza
  16. Lowell Umayam
  17. Roxanne Aniceto
  18. Lei-Ann Chang
  19. Shirley Lauchie
  20. Omotara Ogundeyi
  21. Christopher Ordish
  22. Aya Shinomiya
  23. Christopher Sigmund
  24. Satoko Takemura
  25. Julie Tran
  26. Glenn C Turner
  27. Gerald M Rubin
  28. Louis K Scheffer
(2017)
A connectome of a learning and memory center in the adult Drosophila brain
eLife 6:e26975.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26975
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Abstract

Understanding memory formation, storage and retrieval requires knowledge of the underlying neuronal circuits. In Drosophila, the mushroom body (MB) is the major site of associative learning. We reconstructed the morphologies and synaptic connections of all 983 neurons within the three functional units, or compartments, that compose the adult MB’s α lobe, using a dataset of isotropic 8-nm voxels collected by focused ion-beam milling scanning electron microscopy. We found that Kenyon cells (KCs), whose sparse activity encodes sensory information, each make multiple en passant synapses to MB output neurons (MBONs) in each compartment. Some MBONs have inputs from all KCs, while others differentially sample sensory modalities. Only six percent of KC>MBON synapses receive a direct synapse from a dopaminergic neuron (DAN). We identified two unanticipated classes of synapses, KC>DAN and DAN>MBON. DAN activation produces a slow depolarization of the MBON in these DAN>MBON synapses and can weaken memory recall.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Shin-ya Takemura

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    For correspondence
    takemuras@janelia.hhmi.org
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2400-6426

  2. Yoshinori Aso

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2939-1688

  3. Toshihide Hige

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Allan Wong

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Zhiyuan Lu

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. C Shan Xu

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8564-7836

  7. Patricia K Rivlin

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  8. Harald F Hess

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  9. Ting Zhao

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  10. Toufiq Parag

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  11. Stuart Berg

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  12. Gary Huang

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  13. William Katz

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  14. Donald J Olbris

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  15. Stephen Plaza

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  16. Lowell Umayam

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  17. Roxanne Aniceto

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  18. Lei-Ann Chang

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  19. Shirley Lauchie

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  20. Omotara Ogundeyi

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  21. Christopher Ordish

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  22. Aya Shinomiya

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  23. Christopher Sigmund

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  24. Satoko Takemura

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  25. Julie Tran

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  26. Glenn C Turner

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-5341-2784

  27. Gerald M Rubin

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-8762-8703

  28. Louis K Scheffer

    Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
    For correspondence
    schefferl@janelia.hhmi.org
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3289-6564

Funding

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  • Harald F Hess
  • Glenn C Turner
  • Gerald M Rubin
  • Louis K Scheffer

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2017, Takemura et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Shin-ya Takemura
  2. Yoshinori Aso
  3. Toshihide Hige
  4. Allan Wong
  5. Zhiyuan Lu
  6. C Shan Xu
  7. Patricia K Rivlin
  8. Harald F Hess
  9. Ting Zhao
  10. Toufiq Parag
  11. Stuart Berg
  12. Gary Huang
  13. William Katz
  14. Donald J Olbris
  15. Stephen Plaza
  16. Lowell Umayam
  17. Roxanne Aniceto
  18. Lei-Ann Chang
  19. Shirley Lauchie
  20. Omotara Ogundeyi
  21. Christopher Ordish
  22. Aya Shinomiya
  23. Christopher Sigmund
  24. Satoko Takemura
  25. Julie Tran
  26. Glenn C Turner
  27. Gerald M Rubin
  28. Louis K Scheffer
(2017)
A connectome of a learning and memory center in the adult Drosophila brain
eLife 6:e26975.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26975

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26975

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