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FlyWire Brain
FlyWire Brain
Whole-Brain Connectome of an adult female Drosophila. AI-segmented, expert-proofread neurons with millions of connections, crowdsourced labels, and neurotransmitters.

Explore the Connectome in Codex

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AT A GLANCE

140K Neurons
Central brain and optic lobes proofread by experts
50M+ Synapses
Including Neurotransmitter Information
100K+ Annotations
Cell labels from the FlyWire community



Buildings

Overview

Since 2019, scientists and experienced proofreaders have utilized FlyWire to proofread AI segmentation of a full fly brain (Dorkenwald et al., Zheng et al.). As of October 2024, the flagship FlyWire paper, Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain, has been published in Nature, which includes 139,255 proofread neurons (Dorkenwald et al.). The companion papers include hierarchical annotation of all proofread neurons (Schlegel et al.) and a comprehensive cell type catalog of the visual system (Matsliah, Yu et al.).

Automatically extracted presynaptic and postsynaptic tags have been applied to all putative connections in the brain (Buhmann et al.), and the dominant neurotransmitter assigned for most neurons (Eckstein et al.).

Explore the connectome and its annotations in Codex.

Drosophila Melanogaster, connectome

Consortium

Community of neurobiologists, computer scientists, and proofreaders who build and curate the first whole brain connectome for Drosophila in FlyWire. Join FlyWire and contribute community data for your lab to appear.

Meet the Consortium

Brain Initiative

Funders

Core support for FlyWire came from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council (MRC), National Science Foundation (NSF), Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI), Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), Google, and Amazon. The Murthy and Seung labs were supported by the NIH BRAIN Initiative (RF1 MH117815, RF1 MH129268, U24 NS126935) and PNI. The Jefferis and Bock labs were supported by the NIH BRAIN Initiative (RF1 MH120679), Wellcome Trust (203261/Z/16/Z, 220343/Z/20/Z) and NSF Neuronex2 (NSF 2014862, MRC MC_EX_MR/T046279/1). The Jefferis lab was supported by the MRC (MC-U105188491). The Seung lab and the Allen Institute for Brain Science were supported by the IARPA MICrONS project (D16PC0005). The Seung lab received support with compute resources from Amazon and Google.





Creating the FlyWire Brain Connectome


FlyWire’s brain connectome was created through contributions of hundreds of scientists at numerous institutions who make up the FlyWire Consortium. The high-resolution image data was acquired in the Bock lab at Janelia Research Campus and aligned by the Bock and Saalfeld labs at Janelia Research Campus. The Murthy and Seung labs at Princeton University then re-aligned and automatically reconstructed all the cells. The Murthy and Seung labs made the reconstructions openly available for large-scale proofreading by creating the FlyWire platform and establishing the FlyWire Consortium; the Murthy and Seung labs led the Consortium effort. The FlyWire platform was built on a proofreading and annotation infrastructure developed in collaboration between Princeton University and the Allen Institute for Brain Science, who continue to manage the platform jointly. The main 3D data viewer of FlyWire was developed by Google Research. At this stage, FlyWire incorporated synapse predictions from the Funke and Saalfeld labs at Janelia and neurotransmitter information provided by the Funke lab at Janelia and the Jefferis Lab at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Proofreading and annotation was carried out by hundreds of members of the FlyWire Consortium, including citizen scientists. The majority of the proofreading was carried out and orchestrated by the Murthy and Seung labs at Princeton University, the Jefferis Lab at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the Bock lab at University of Vermont who worked with SixEleven and ariadne.ai for proofreading services. The Jefferis and Bock labs curated hierarchical annotations for all neurons in the brain and detailed cell typings for all neurons in the central brain. The Murthy and Seung labs created cell type annotations for all intrinsic neurons of the optic lobes. The Murthy and Seung labs developed Codex (Connectome Data Explorer) for sharing and exploring the connectome. Groups at Princeton University, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Harvard Medical School, and the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont built additional programmatic and interactive tools for accessing the resource.


Publications Utilizing FlyWire (see citation guidelines)

  • Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain. Dorkenwald et. al. Nature 2024
  • Whole-brain annotation and multi-connectome cell typing quantifies circuit stereotypy in Drosophila. Schlegel et. al. Nature 2024
  • Neuronal "parts list" and wiring diagram for a visual system. Matsliah, Yu et. al Nature 2024
  • Brain rewiring during developmental transitions: A Comparative Analysis of Larva and Adult Drosophila melanogaster. Yadav et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Divergent neural circuits for proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensing of the Drosophila leg. Lee et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Morphology and synapse topography optimize linear encoding of synapse numbers in Drosophila looming responsive descending neurons.. Moreno-Sanchez et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Ectopic Reconstitution of a Spine-Apparatus Like Structure Provides Insight into Mechanisms Underlying Its Formation. Falahati et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Interneuron diversity and normalization specificity in a visual system. Seung bioRxiv 2024
  • Social state gates vision using three circuit mechanisms in Drosophila. Schretter et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Light and dopamine impact two circadian neurons to promote morning wakefulness. Le et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Neural pathways and computations that achieve stable contrast processing tuned to natural scenes. Gür et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Neurons underlying aggressive actions that are shared by both males and females in Drosophila. Tao et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Teneurin Signaling in Synaptic Partner Matching. Xu et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Organization of an ascending circuit that conveys flight motor state in Drosophila. Cheong et. akl. Current Biology 2024
  • Taste cells expressing Ionotropic Receptor 94e reciprocally impact feeding and egg laying in Drosophila. Guillemin et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Anti-diuretic hormone ITP signals via a guanylate cyclase receptor to modulate systemic homeostasis in Drosophila. Gera et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Network Statistics of the Whole-Brain Connectome of Drosophila. Lin et. al. Nature 2024
  • Synaptic connectome of the Drosophila circadian clock. Reinhard et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Presynaptic inhibition selectively suppresses leg proprioception in behaving Drosophila. Dallmann bioRxiv 2023
  • Aminergic and peptidergic modulation of Insulin-Producing Cells in Drosophila. Held bioRxiv 2023
  • Descending control and regulation of spontaneous flight turns in Drosophila. Ros et. al. Current Biology 2023
  • Neural circuit mechanisms underlying context-specific halting in Drosophila. Sapkal et. al. Nature 2024
  • Heterogeneity of synaptic connectivity in the fly visual system. Cornean et. al. Nature Communications 2023
  • Overlap and divergence of neural circuits mediating distinct behavioral responses to sugar. Jacobs et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Diversity of visual inputs to Kenyon cells of the Drosophila mushroom body. Ganguly et. al. Nature Communications 2024
  • A comprehensive neuroanatomical survey of the Drosophila Lobula Plate Tangential Neurons with predictions for their optic flow sensitivity. Zhao et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Fine-grained descending control of steering in walking Drosophila. Yang et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • The fly connectome reveals a path to the effectome. Pospisil et. al. Nature 2024
  • Insights into vision from interpretation of a neuronal wiring diagram. Seung bioRxiv 2023
  • Connectomic reconstruction predicts the functional organization of visual inputs to the navigation center of the Drosophila brain. Garner et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Synaptic and peptidergic connectomes of the Drosophila circadian clock. Reinhard et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Neuronal correlates of time integration into memories. Frantzmann et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Networks of descending neurons transform command-like signals into population-based behavioral control. Braun et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing. Shiu et. al. Nature 2024
  • Hunger- and thirst-sensing neurons modulate a neuroendocrine network to coordinate sugar and water ingestion. González-Segarra et. al. eLife 2023
  • Disynaptic inhibition shapes tuning of OFF-motion detectors in Drosophila. Braun et. al. Current Biology 2023
  • Hue selectivity from recurrent circuitry in Drosophila. Christenson et. al. Nature Neuroscience 2024
  • Neurotransmitter Classification from Electron Microscopy Images at Synaptic Sites in Drosophila Melanogaster. Eckstein et. al. Cell 2023 (2024)
  • Visual Feedback Neurons Fine-Tune Drosophila Male Courtship via GABA-Mediated Inhibition. Mabuchi et. al. Current Biology 2023
  • Somatotopic organization among parallel sensory pathways that promote a grooming sequence in Drosophila. Eichler et. al. eLife 2023
  • Neural network organization for courtship-song feature detection in Drosophila. Baker et. al. Current Biology 2023
  • Eye structure shapes neuron function in Drosophila motion vision. Zhao et. al. bioRxiv 2022
  • Structured sampling of olfactory input by the fly mushroom body. Zheng et. al. Current Biology 2022
  • Taste quality and hunger interactions in a feeding sensorimotor circuit. Shiu et. al. eLife 2022
  • Mating-driven variability in olfactory local interneuron wiring. Chou et. al. Science Advances 2022
  • Olfactory stimuli and moonwalker SEZ neurons can drive backward locomotion in Drosophila. Israel Current Biology 2022
  • Chemoreceptor co-expression in Drosophila melanogaster olfactory neurons. Task et. al. eLife 2022
  • Synaptic targets of photoreceptors specialized to detect color and skylight polarization in Drosophila. Kind et. al. eLife 2021
  • Classification and genetic targeting of cell types in the primary taste and premotor center of the adult Drosophila brain. Sterne et. al. eLife 2021
  • Information flow, cell types and stereotypy in a full olfactory connectome. Schlegel et. al. eLife 2021
  • The neural basis for a persistent internal state in Drosophila females. Deutsch et. al. eLife 2020 (2022)
If you have a publication that utilized the FlyWire connectome but is not listed here, please get in touch to let us know: flywire@princeton.edu


Contacts

  • Amy Sterling (amysterling@princeton.edu), Crowdsourcing and Outreach Manager
  • Arie Matsliah (arie@princeton.edu), Research Scientist and FlyWire Data Evangelist
  • Sven M. Dorkenwald (svenmd@princeton.edu), FlyWire Proofreading Platform Lead
  • Mala Murthy (mmurthy@princeton.edu), Principal Investigator
  • Sebastian Seung (sseung@princeton.edu), Principal Investigator