An international research team, known as the FlyWire Consortium and led by Dr. Mala Murthy from Princeton University’s Neuroscience Institute, has completed a comprehensive map of the adult fruit fly’s brain structure. Their groundbreaking findings on how the fruit fly brain processes information were published in Nature October. The team succeeded in creating an intricate neural wiring diagram, or connectome, by analyzing the brain and neural structures of the fruit fly in remarkable detail. This collaborative effort brought together 53 research institutions from 12 countries, including the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, Taiwan, and France.
This achievement marks the first full connectome of an adult animal since mapping C. elegans—a microscopic worm with around 300 neurons—back in 1982. In 2023, a connectome of fruit fly larvae containing approximately 3,000 neurons was published in Science, but this new study represents a giant leap forward. The team mapped around 140,000 neurons and over 50 million synaptic connections in the adult fruit fly’s brain. While the fruit fly’s brain contains about one million times fewer neurons than humans, these insects exhibit a wide range of complex behaviors, such as mating and flying. Even more remarkable is that fruit flies share about 60% of the same genes as humans—especially those linked to learning and circadian rhythms. Roughly 75% of human genetic diseases have been found to have similar manifestations in fruit flies. These parallels make the fruit fly an invaluable model for studying human brain function.
The success of this research owes much to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. To map the fruit fly’s brain, researchers first extracted the brain and sliced it into ultra-thin, nanometer-sized sections, which were then imaged with an electron microscope to create 3D renderings. AI algorithms were essential in identifying synapses, tracing neural connections, and distinguishing key features to reconstruct the brain map. The process also involved multiple researchers working in real-time on a shared platform to refine and complete the map.
Dr. Sebastian Seung, a research co-leader, emphasized the importance of AI, stating, “Advancements in AI computing made it possible to create this detailed brain wiring diagram.” Dr. Murthy added, “We’ve publicly made the entire database (codex.flywire.ai) available to promote collaborative research. We hope this resource will be a game-changer for neuroscientists seeking a better understanding of healthy brain function and will serve as a foundation for studying brain disorders in the future.”