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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
  • Dynamical Interrogation of Serpentine Medulla Circuits in the Drosophila Optic Lobe. Dhiman et. al. bioRxiv 2026
  • Modular presynaptic assemblages scale to postsynaptic partner number. Puñal et. al. bioRxiv 2026
  • Structural basis of CO2 valence coding in Drosophila. Dominik et. al. bioRxiv 2026
  • A dedicated brain circuit controls forward walking in Drosophila. Dallmann et. al. bioRxiv 2026
  • Transcriptomic and functional characterization indicate sexual dimorphism of discrete circadian neuron subtypes. Torres et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Vector coordinate transformation in the Drosophila navigation system. Gorko et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • A new system for studying neuronal remodeling and its relation to behavior in Drosophila. Israel et. al. Communications Biology 2025
  • Connectomic mapping of pharyngeal and gut sensory circuits in adult Drosophila. Giakoumas et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Differential modulation of feedforward inhibition reflects topographic organization in the olfactory system. Jonaitis et. al. Nature Communications 2025
  • The Drosophila escape motor circuit shows differential vulnerability to aging linked to functional decay. Gaitanidis et. al. PLOS Biology 2025
  • Whole-brain connectomics of Drosophila reveals a robust, distributed architecture for the suppression of feeding during escape. Chen et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Parallel neuronal ensembles control behavior across sensorimotor levels in Drosophila. Liessem et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Hierarchical Community Structure of the Adult Drosophila Connectome Reveals Conserved Circuit Archetypes. Betzel et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Linking structure and function: biological insights from fly connectomes. Lin et. al. Nature Methods 2025
  • Glia-to-glia serotonin signaling directs MMP-dependent infiltration for experience-dependent synapse pruning. Miller et. al. PLOS Biology 2025
  • Population Morphology Implies a Common Developmental Blueprint for Drosophila Motion Detectors. Drummond et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Differential dopaminergic modulation of the antennal lobe of Drosophila melanogaster. Avishai et. al. Communications Biology 2025
  • Anti-diuretic hormone ITP signals via a guanylate cyclase receptor to modulate systemic homeostasis in Drosophila. Gera et. al. eLife 2025
  • A switch in arousal circuit architecture shapes sleep across the lifespan. Szuperak et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • CeDNe: A multi-scale computational framework for modeling structure-function relationships in the C. Moza et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • From perception to valence: a pair of interneurons that assign positive valence to sweet sensation in Drosophila. Christie et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Connectivity biases generate a learning hierarchy in the Drosophila mushroom body. MacKenzie et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Ascending nociceptive pathways drive rapid escape and sustained avoidance in adult Drosophila. Jones et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • A neural circuit for context-dependent multimodal signaling in Drosophila. Steinfath et. al. Nature Communications 2025
  • Polyadic synapses introduce unique wiring architectures in T5 cells of Drosophila. Samara et. al. PLOS One 2025
  • Flexible Steering and Conflict Resolution: Pro-Goal/Anti-Goal Gating in Drosophila Lateral Accessory Lobes. Liao et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Synapse Detection Efficiency in EM Drosophila Connectomics. Scheffer et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Presynaptic Release Probability Determines the Need for Sleep. Wu et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Hunger Recruits a Parallel Circuit Encoding Alcohol Reward. Nunez et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Electrical synapses mediate visual approach behavior. Frighetto et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system. Berg et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • MACS: Multi Domain Adaptation Enables Accurate Connectomics Segmentation. Abir et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • A Single NPFR Neuropeptide F Receptor Neuron That Regulates Thirst Behaviors in Drosophila. Orozco Ramirez et. al. eNeuro 2025
  • A gut-brain axis for aversive interoception drives innate and anticipatory emesis in Drosophila. Karunakaran et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • The Connectome Interpreter Toolkit. Yin et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Selective presynaptic inhibition of leg proprioception in behaving Drosophila. Dallmann et. al. Nature 2025
  • CLOCK-dependent pathway in a single pair of LNd neurons instruct circadian-independent interval timing behavior. Miao et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Synaptic targets of circadian clock neurons influence core clock parameters. Scholz-Carlson et. al. Science Advances 2025
  • Regulatory logic of neuronal identity specification in Drosophila. Coyne et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Mating status-dependent dopaminergic modulation of auditory sensory neurons in Drosophila. Yamakoshi et. al. iScience 2025
  • Serotonin selectively modulates visual responses of object motion detectors in Drosophila. Bertsch et. al. Journal of Neurophysiology 2025
  • dArc1 controls sugar reward valuation in Drosophila melanogaster. Bervoets et. al. Current Biology 2025
  • Type-specific molecular signaling architectures and synaptic plasticity of Drosophila olfactory sensory neurons. Acharya et. al. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience 2025
  • Connectomics Reveals a Feed-Forward Swallowing Circuit Driving Protein Appetite. Tastekin et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Ectopic sodium channel expression decreases excitability of Drosophila Kenyon cells. Greenin-Whitehead et. al. The Journal of Physiology 2025
  • From Sensory Detection to Motor Action: The Comprehensive Drosophila Taste-Feeding Connectome. Tastekin et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Connectivity of serotonin neurons reveals a constrained inhibitory subnetwork within the olfactory system. Salman et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • SynAnno: Interactive Guided Proofreading of Synaptic Annotations. Lauenburg et. al. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 2025
  • Investigation of the molecular-genetic basis for courtship differences between Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans and their hybrids. Palmateer et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome. Bates et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Infrequent strong connections constrain connectomic predictions of neuronal function. Currier et. al. Cell 2025
  • Recurrent connectivity supports carbon dioxide sensitivity in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Bao et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • The exponential distance rule-based network model predicts topology and reveals functionally relevant properties of the Drosophila projectome. Péntek et. al. Network Neuroscience 2025
  • Control of walking direction by descending and dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila. Dahlhoff et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Neural circuit mechanisms for steering control in walking Drosophila. Rayshubskiy et. al. eLife 2025
  • Selective life-long suppression of an odor processing channel in response to critical period experience. Leier et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • New Synapse Detection in the Whole-Brain Connectome of Drosophila. Yu et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • A Developmental Atlas of the Drosophila Nerve Cord Uncovers a Global Temporal Code for Neuronal Identity. Cachero et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Neuron-to-glia signaling drives critical period experience-dependent synapse pruning. Nelson et. al. Scientific Reports 2025
  • Neuron-Microenvironments Associated with Specific Long-Range Connectivity Reveal Functional Modules in the Adult Drosophila Brain. Yuan et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Avoidance engages dopaminergic punishment in Drosophila. Amin et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Molecular characterization of gustatory second-order neurons reveals integrative mechanisms of gustatory and metabolic information. Mollá-Albaladejo et. al. eLife 2025
  • Functional connectivity, structural connectivity, and inter-individual variability in Drosophila melanogaster. Okuno et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Clock-dependent regulation of a homeostatic sleep center maintains daytime sleep and evening activity. Hsu et. al. Current Biology 2025
  • Sexually- dimorphic neurons in the Drosophila whole-brain connectome. Deutsch et. al. Research Square 2025
  • Connectivity Is All You Need: Inferring Neuronal Types with NTAC. Schwartzman et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • A High-Resolution Atlas of the Brain Predicts Lineage and Birth Order Underly Neuronal Identity. Allen et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Molecular gradients shape synaptic specificity of a visuomotor transformation. Dombrovski et. al. Nature 2025
  • Hierarchical diversification of instinctual behavior neurons by lineage, birth order, and sex. Elkahlah et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • A parallelly distributed microscope and software system for scalable high-throughput multispectral 3D imaging. Jiang et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Sequential formation of Drosophila circuit asymmetry via prolonged structural plasticity. Markovitsch et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • A comprehensive mechanosensory connectome reveals a somatotopically organized neural circuit architecture controlling stimulus-aimed grooming of the Drosophila head. Calle-Schuler et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • An integrated anatomical, functional and evolutionary view of the Drosophila olfactory system. Benton et. al. EMBO Reports 2025
  • Divergent neural circuits for proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensing of the Drosophila leg. Lee et. al. Nature Communications 2025
  • A competitive disinhibitory network for robust optic flow processing in Drosophila. Erginkaya et. al. Nature Neuroscience 2025
  • Mutual coupling of neurons in the circadian master clock: What we can learn from fruit flies. Helfrich-Förster et. al. Neurobiology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms 2025
  • Comparative connectomics of Drosophila descending and ascending neurons. Stürner et. al. Nature 2025
  • Specialized parallel pathways for adaptive control of visual object pursuit. Collie et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • CAVE: Connectome Annotation Versioning Engine. Dorkenwald et. al. Nature Methods 2025
  • Connectome- driven neural inventory of a complete visual system. Nern et. al. Nature 2025
  • Aminergic and peptidergic modulation of insulin- producing cells in Drosophila. Held et. al. eLife 2025
  • Genetic and Circuit Mechanisms Underlying Natural Variation in Value-Based Decision Making. Motevalli et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Combined topological and spatial constraints are required to capture the structure of neural connectomes. Salova et. al. Network Neuroscience 2025
  • Columnar cholinergic neurotransmission onto T5 cells of Drosophila. Samara et. al. Current Biology 2025
  • Genetic targeting of astrocytes associated with specific neuronal circuit in adult Drosophila. Dopp et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Connectomic analysis of taste circuits in Drosophila. Walker et. al. Scientific Reports 2025
  • Multi-output computation by single neuron biophysics in a visual system. Seung et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Glia control experience-dependent plasticity in an olfactory critical period. Leier et. al. eLife 2025
  • Synaptic enrichment and dynamic regulation of the two opposing dopamine receptors within the same neurons. Hiramatsu et. al. eLife 2025
  • Driver lines for studying associative learning in Drosophila. Shuai et. al. eLife 2025
  • Temporal and Notch identity determine layer targeting and synapse location of medulla neurons. Holguera et. al. bioRxiv 2025
  • Ectopic reconstitution of a spine-apparatus-like structure provides insight into mechanisms underlying its formation. Falahati et. al. Current Biology 2025
  • Rapid lightsheet fluorescence imaging of whole Drosophila brains at nanoscale resolution by potassium acrylate-based expansion microscopy. Tian et. al. Nature Communications 2024
  • Cascades and convergence: dynamic signal flow in a synapse-level brain network. Betzel et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Neuronal circuit mechanisms of competitive interaction between action-based and coincidence learning. Rozenfeld et. al. Science Advances 2024
  • Synaptic connectome of the Drosophila circadian clock. Reinhard et. al. Nature Communications 2024
  • The sparse driver system for in vivo single-cell labeling and manipulation in Drosophila. Xu et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Conspecific sociability is regulated by associative learning circuits. Lobato-Rios et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Social state alters vision using three circuit mechanisms in Drosophila. Schretter et. al. Nature 2024
  • Continuous integration of heading and goal directions guides steering. Crown et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Neural pathways and computations that achieve stable contrast processing tuned to natural scenes. Gür et. al. Nature Communications 2024
  • The fly connectome reveals a path to the effectome. Pospisil et. al. Nature 2024
  • Connectomic reconstruction predicts visual features used for navigation. Garner et. al. Nature 2024
  • A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing. Shiu et. al. Nature 2024
  • Neural circuit mechanisms underlying context-specific halting in Drosophila. Sapkal et. al. Nature 2024
  • Fine-grained descending control of steering in walking Drosophila. Yang et. al. Cell 2024
  • Overlap and divergence of neural circuits mediating distinct behavioral responses to sugar. Jacobs, Wang et. al. Cell 2024
  • Cross-species evidence for a developmental origin of adult hypersomnia with loss of synaptic adhesion molecules beat-Ia/CADM2. Mace et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Why do we have so many excitatory neurons?. Wang et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • BrainScale, Enabling Scalable Online Learning in Spiking Neural Networks. Wang et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • A gut-brain-gut interoceptive circuit loop gates sugar ingestion in Drosophila. Cui et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Molecular and cellular mechanisms of teneurin signaling in synaptic partner matching. Xu et. al. Cell 2024
  • Synaptic connectome of a neurosecretory network in the Drosophila brain. McKim et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Functional imaging and connectome analyses reveal organizing principles of taste circuits in Drosophila. Li et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Neuronal identity control at the resolution of a single transcription factor isoform. Smolin et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Networks of descending neurons transform command-like signals into population-based behavioral control. J. Braun et. al. Nature 2024
  • Octopaminergic descending neurons in Drosophila: Connectivity, tonic activity and relation to locomotion. Babski et. al. Heliyon 2024
  • Neurotransmitter classification from electron microscopy images at synaptic sites in Drosophila melanogaster. Eckstein et. al. Cell 2024
  • Brain rewiring during developmental transitions: A Comparative Analysis of Larva and Adult Drosophila melanogaster. Yadav 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
  • Somatotopic organization among parallel sensory pathways that promote a grooming sequence in Drosophila. Eichler et. al. eLife 2024
  • Interneuron diversity and normalization specificity in a visual system. Seung et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Light and dopamine impact two circadian neurons to promote morning wakefulness. Le et. al. Current Biology 2024
  • Organization of an ascending circuit that conveys flight motor state in Drosophila. Cheong et. al. Current Biology 2024
  • Neurons underlying aggressive actions that are shared by both males and females in Drosophila. Tao et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Heterogeneity of synaptic connectivity in the fly visual system. Cornean et. al. Nature Communications 2024
  • Descending control and regulation of spontaneous flight turns in Drosophila. Ros et. al. Current Biology 2024
  • Taste cells expressing Ionotropic Receptor 94e reciprocally impact feeding and egg laying in Drosophila. Guillemin et. al. bioRxiv 2024
  • Insights into vision from interpretation of a neuronal wiring diagram. Seung et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • A comprehensive neuroanatomical survey of the Drosophila Lobula Plate Tangential Neurons with predictions for their optic flow sensitivity. Zhao et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Diversity of visual inputs to Kenyon cells of the Drosophila mushroom body. Ganguly (Behnia) et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Hunger- and thirst-sensing neurons modulate a neuroendocrine network to coordinate sugar and water ingestion. González-Segarra et. al. eLife 2023
  • Neuronal correlates of time integration into memories. Frantzmann et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Visual Feedback Neurons Fine-Tune Drosophila Male Courtship via GABA-Mediated Inhibition. Mabuchi, Yapici et. al. Current Biology 2023
  • Network Statistics of the Whole-Brain Connectome of Drosophila. Lin et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Hue selectivity from recurrent circuitry in Drosophila. Christenson et. al. bioRxiv 2023
  • Disynaptic inhibition shapes tuning of OFF-motion detectors in Drosophila. Braun, Behnia 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
  • Neural network organization for courtship-song feature detection in Drosophila. Baker et. al. Current Biology 2022
  • One-to-one mapping between deep network units and real neurons uncovers a visual population code for social behavior. Cowley et. al. bioRxiv 2022
  • Taste quality and hunger interactions in a feeding sensorimotor circuit. Shiu et. al. eLife 2022
  • Chemoreceptor co-expression in Drosophila melanogaster olfactory neurons. Task et. al. eLife 2022
  • Olfactory stimuli and moonwalker SEZ neurons can drive backward locomotion in Drosophila. Israel et. al. Current Biology 2022
  • Mating-driven variability in olfactory local interneuron wiring. Chou et. al. Science Advances 2022
  • Synaptic targets of photoreceptors specialized to detect color and skylight polarization in Drosophila. Kind 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
If you have a publication that utilized the FlyWire connectome but is not listed here, please get in touch to let us know: [email protected]


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