MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Connectomes across development reveal principles of brain maturation

Author(s)
Witvliet, Daniel; Mulcahy, Ben; Mitchell, James K; Meirovitch, Yaron; Berger, Daniel R; Wu, Yuelong; Liu, Yufang; Koh, Wan Xian; Parvathala, Rajeev; Holmyard, Douglas; Schalek, Richard L; Shavit, Nir; Chisholm, Andrew D; Lichtman, Jeff W; Samuel, Aravinthan DT; Zhen, Mei; ... Show more Show less
Thumbnail
DownloadSubmitted version (15.57Mb)
Open Access Policy

Open Access Policy

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike

Terms of use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
An animal's nervous system changes as its body grows from birth to adulthood and its behaviours mature1-8. The form and extent of circuit remodelling across the connectome is unknown3,9-15. Here we used serial-section electron microscopy to reconstruct the full brain of eight isogenic Caenorhabditis elegans individuals across postnatal stages to investigate how it changes with age. The overall geometry of the brain is preserved from birth to adulthood, but substantial changes in chemical synaptic connectivity emerge on this consistent scaffold. Comparing connectomes between individuals reveals substantial differences in connectivity that make each brain partly unique. Comparing connectomes across maturation reveals consistent wiring changes between different neurons. These changes alter the strength of existing connections and create new connections. Collective changes in the network alter information processing. During development, the central decision-making circuitry is maintained, whereas sensory and motor pathways substantially remodel. With age, the brain becomes progressively more feedforward and discernibly modular. Thus developmental connectomics reveals principles that underlie brain maturation.
Date issued
2021
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143880
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Journal
Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Witvliet, Daniel, Mulcahy, Ben, Mitchell, James K, Meirovitch, Yaron, Berger, Daniel R et al. 2021. "Connectomes across development reveal principles of brain maturation." Nature, 596 (7871).
Version: Original manuscript

Collections
  • MIT Open Access Articles

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.