For the first time in neuroscience history, researchers have successfully mapped the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.
The detailed map, released by Princeton University, showed 139,255 neurons and 50 million neural connections despite being ‘no larger than a poppy seed’.
A Major Achievement
Of all 8,453 known and named cell types in the diagram more than 4,500 are new to science.
The fruit fly’s brain may be small, no bigger than a poppy seed, but its neural complexity mirrors that of more advanced species, including humans.
The map has been hailed as a ‘major scientific achievement’ worthy of the Noble Prize, sciencealert.com noted.
Brain is Similar To That of Humans
The fruit fly brain is similar to the human brain in many ways, especially in terms of the circuits that control movement and sensory responses.
Led by neuroscientist Mala Murthy of Princeton University, the effort is considered the only other full brain map of a much simpler organism that resembles the human brain in many aspects.
