Cell
Volume 184, Issue 3, 4 February 2021, Pages 759-774.e18
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Reconstruction of motor control circuits in adult Drosophila using automated transmission electron microscopy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.12.013Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • An automated tape-based transmission electron microscopy pipeline for connectomics

  • An adult Drosophila ventral nerve cord at synapse resolution made publicly available

  • >1,000 motor neuron and sensory neuron reconstructions registered to a standard atlas

  • A unique class of load-sensing neurons synapse onto specific leg motor neurons

Summary

To investigate circuit mechanisms underlying locomotor behavior, we used serial-section electron microscopy (EM) to acquire a synapse-resolution dataset containing the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of an adult female Drosophila melanogaster. To generate this dataset, we developed GridTape, a technology that combines automated serial-section collection with automated high-throughput transmission EM. Using this dataset, we studied neuronal networks that control leg and wing movements by reconstructing all 507 motor neurons that control the limbs. We show that a specific class of leg sensory neurons synapses directly onto motor neurons with the largest-caliber axons on both sides of the body, representing a unique pathway for fast limb control. We provide open access to the dataset and reconstructions registered to a standard atlas to permit matching of cells between EM and light microscopy data. We also provide GridTape instrumentation designs and software to make large-scale EM more accessible and affordable to the scientific community.

Keywords

serial-section electron microscopy
connectomics
limb control
sensory feedback
campaniform sensilla
motor neurons

Cited by (0)

6

These authors contributed equally

7

Present address: Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

8

Present address: Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

9

Present address: Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

10

Lead contact