A Fruit Fly’s Internal Compass
This furry ring is a compilation of 50 neurons in the fruit fly brain that help the fly navigate. Recent research shows that when the fly changes course, different sections of this ring activate, providing a sense of direction and orientation.
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DownloadA Fruit Fly’s Internal Compass
This furry ring is a compilation of 50 neurons in the fruit fly brain that help the fly navigate. Recent research shows that when the fly changes course, different sections of this ring activate, providing a sense of direction and orientation.
What am I looking at?
This is a 3D reconstruction of 50 different EPG neurons within the part of the fruit fly’s brain that controls navigation, called the ellipsoid body. The color gradient in the image shows how neuronal activity moves around the ring to reflect changes to the fly's heading (the direction it is facing). In other words, when the fruit fly faces one direction, the yellow part of the ring may be active (1), but as the fly turns to face the opposite direction, the activity moves around the ring to the teal part (2).
Biology in the Background
The ability to keep track of your heading is very important for any active animal. It is especially important for small prey animals, like insects, that change direction rapidly to avoid predators. Insects navigate around predators and harsh conditions with the help of EPG neurons. These neurons group together in specific areas of the brain to form an “internal compass.” With every twist and turn, this compass allows the fly to keep track of the direction it is moving in relation to its surroundings.
Technique
This image was created by compiling focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) data into a 3D reconstruction of the positions of each individual neuron.
Philip Hubbard, Brad Hulse, the Janelia FlyEM Project Team, Google Connectomics , HHMI's Janelia Research Campus