Search for computational modules in the C. elegans brain

By Markus Reigl, Uri Alon, Dmitri "Mitya" Chklovskii. 2004

109 citations recorded by the source corpus.

BackgroundDoes the C. elegans nervous system contain multi-neuron computational modules that perform stereotypical functions? We attempt to answer this question by searching for recurring multi-neuron inter-connectivity patterns in the C. elegans nervous system's wiring diagram.ResultsOur statistical analysis reveals that some inter-connectivity patterns containing two, three and four (but not five) neurons are significantly over-represented relative to the expectations based on the statistics of smaller inter-connectivity patterns.ConclusionsOver-represented patterns (or motifs) are candidates for computational modules that may perform stereotypical functions in the C. elegans nervous system. These modules may appear in other species and need to be investigated further.

Subfields: Aging, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Geometry and Topology, Neuroscience

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Citations in the corpus

An Integrated Micro- and Macroarchitectural Analysis of the Drosophila Brain by Computer-Assisted Serial Section Electron Microscopy (2010, background): “high numbers certain types of network motifs [48,49] that may determine the function of the corresponding neuropile microvolume.”
Structural Properties of the Caenorhabditis elegans Neuronal Network (2009, methodology): “We identify overrepresented subnetworks by comparing to random networks, generated with a rewiring procedure [38,64].”
Nonoptimal Component Placement, but Short Processing Paths, due to Long-Distance Projections in Neural Systems (2006, background): “For example, studies of the small-world properties [19] or characteristic motifs [40] of C.”
Analysis of Biological Networks (2008, methodology): “The matching index can be generalized beyond the immediate neighbors of a vertex or extended to multiple vertices [40].”
Highly Nonrandom Features of Synaptic Connectivity in Local Cortical Circuits (2005, methodology): “Interestingly, similar results have been obtained in the analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans wiring diagram [36], which was reconstructed from serial section electron microscopy [1].”
Beyond the connectome: How neuromodulators shape neural circuits (2012, background): “Modeling has failed, so far, to generate a unifying hypothesis that explains the overall structure of the wiring diagram, or even the functions of commonly observed synaptic motifs [9–13].”