New map of a male fly central nervous system includes all 166,000 neurons - and enables direct comparisons to female fly brain

Key Points:

• Scientists have created a comprehensive map of every neuron in the male fruit fly brain and its equivalent of a spinal cord, totaling over 166,000 neurons, complementing a previously released female fruit fly brain map with about 140,000 neurons.
• These connectomes enable researchers to compare male and female fruit fly brains to investigate neural differences underlying sex-specific behaviors such as mating rituals and aggression.
• The study, published in Cell and Current Biology, is accompanied by three related papers exploring taste processing, vision circuits, and sex-specific neural networks in fruit flies.
• Researchers mapped taste receptor circuits across the fly's body and traced their neural connections to understand how flies decide whether to eat certain substances, providing a tool for further study of sensory and motor integration.
• Findings reveal that while many neural circuits for sensation and movement are shared between sexes, some male-specific networks coordinate behaviors like courtship and aggression, with future research aimed at understanding signal rerouting differences.