Taking Flight

Animal behaviour is driven by the billions of interconnected neurons that make up the central nervous system (CNS). But how does this process come about? During development, progenitor cells create families of neurons, or lineages, each responsible for executing a particular behaviour. Neurons in each lineage inherit similar identities and form a neuronal network that enables the young animal to perform that behaviour. This lineage-based organisation is found even in the relatively simple nervous system of the fruit fly. Recently, scientists traced a specific protein, Unc-4, to several lineages responsible for carrying out crucial fruit fly behaviours like taking flight and walking. This image shows the interconnected neurons (in green) that originate from the same lineage and form part of a network that helps a fly take off. Studies like these show us how animals rely on proteins like Unc-4 to grow the neuronal networks they need to survive.

Written by Gaëlle Coullon

Gaëlle Coullon

Writer

Gaëlle is a consultant and trainer in research communication and commercialisation. As an ex-neuroscientist, she is always looking for new ways to combine her love of writing with everything brain related.

• Image from work by Haluk Lacin and colleagues
• Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, May 2020