Recent Advances in the Genetic Dissection of Neural Circuits in Drosophila
1 Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease of the Ministry of Education of China, Institute of Life Sciences, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
2 Department of Neurobiology, Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China, Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
Abstract
Nervous systems endow animals with cognition and behavior. To understand how nervous systems control behavior, neural circuits mediating distinct functions need to be identified and characterized. With superior genetic manipulability, Drosophila is a model organism at the leading edge of neural circuit analysis. We briefly introduce the state-of-the-art genetic tools that permit precise labeling of neurons and their interconnectivity and investigating what is happening in the brain of a behaving animal and manipulating neurons to determine how behaviors are affected. Brain-wide wiring diagrams, created by light and electron microscopy, bring neural circuit analysis to a new level and scale. Studies enabled by these tools advances our understanding of the nervous system in relation to cognition and behavior.
Keywords
Drosophila; Neural circuit; Neuroanatomy; Neurogenetics; Systems neuroscience
