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Predicting visual function by interpreting a neuronal wiring diagram.

Authors :
Seung HS
Source :
Nature [Nature] 2024 Oct; Vol. 634 (8032), pp. 113-123. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 02.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

As connectomics advances, it will become commonplace to know far more about the structure of a nervous system than about its function. The starting point for many investigations will become neuronal wiring diagrams, which will be interpreted to make theoretical predictions about function. Here I demonstrate this emerging approach with the Drosophila optic lobe, analysing its structure to predict that three Dm3 (refs.  <superscript>1-4</superscript> ) and three TmY (refs.  <superscript>2,4</superscript> ) cell types are part of a circuit that serves the function of form vision. Receptive fields are predicted from connectivity, and suggest that the cell types encode the local orientation of a visual stimulus. Extraclassical <superscript>5,6</superscript> receptive fields are also predicted, with implications for robust orientation tuning <superscript>7</superscript> , position invariance <superscript>8,9</superscript> and completion of noisy or illusory contours <superscript>10,11</superscript> . The TmY types synapse onto neurons that project from the optic lobe to the central brain <superscript>12,13</superscript> , which are conjectured to compute conjunctions and disjunctions of oriented features. My predictions can be tested through neurophysiology, which would constrain the parameters and biophysical mechanisms in neural network models of fly vision <superscript>14</superscript> .<br /> (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1476-4687
Volume :
634
Issue :
8032
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Nature
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
39358524
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07953-5