Featured
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Article |
Neural engineering with photons as synaptic transmitters
PhAST is a technology for establishing de novo or modulating synaptic transmission in a light-dependent manner in C. elegans. By combining a calcium-dependent luciferase on pre-synapses with channelrhodopsin on post-synapses, light serves as a synthetic neurotransmitter.
- Montserrat Porta-de-la-Riva
- , Adriana Carolina Gonzalez
- & Michael Krieg
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Article
| Open Access
High-resolution line-scan Brillouin microscopy for live imaging of mechanical properties during embryo development
Line-scan Brillouin microscopy enables fast 3D imaging of mechanical properties with low phototoxicity, as shown for Drosophila and mouse embryos, as well as ascidians.
- Carlo Bevilacqua
- , Juan Manuel Gomez
- & Robert Prevedel
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Article |
Femtosecond laser microdissection for isolation of regenerating C. elegans neurons for single-cell RNA sequencing
Femtosecond laser microdissection enables transcriptomic analyses of single neurons based on their phenotype.
- Peisen Zhao
- , Sudip Mondal
- & Adela Ben-Yakar
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This Month |
The red harvester ant
Harvester ants live in desert grasslands and eat seeds. Colonies manage water stress by regulating foraging using olfactory interactions between outgoing and returning foragers. A long-term study in New Mexico shows how this collective behavior is evolving in drought conditions.
- Deborah M. Gordon
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Article |
Sensitive genetically encoded sensors for population and subcellular imaging of cAMP in vivo
cAMPFIREs are genetically encoded cAMP sensors that are suitable for in vivo imaging of cAMP signaling, as demonstrated in Drosophila larvae and behaving mice.
- Crystian I. Massengill
- , Landon Bayless-Edwards
- & Haining Zhong
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This Month |
The crustacean Parhyale
Parhyale hawaiensis comes from tropical intertidal shores and mangroves. In research, it is used to explore topics ranging from embryonic development and regeneration, to tidal rhythms and environmental pollution.
- Michalis Averof
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This Month |
Tardigrades
Tardigrades are everywhere. They’re tiny — usually under a millimeter long — and they’re mostly transparent, so they’re easy to miss. But you probably walk by them every day. We’ve been grooming them as emerging models for studying how body forms evolve and how biological materials can survive extreme conditions.
- Bob Goldstein
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Article |
NeuroMechFly, a neuromechanical model of adult Drosophila melanogaster
NeuroMechFly enables simulations of adult Drosophila melanogaster. The platform combines a biomechanical representation of the fly body, models of the muscles, a neural controller and a physics-based simulation of the environment.
- Victor Lobato-Rios
- , Shravan Tata Ramalingasetty
- & Pavan Ramdya
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News & Views |
Tracking together: estimating social poses
Two new toolkits that leverage deep-learning approaches can track the positions of multiple animals and estimate poses in different experimental paradigms.
- Sena Agezo
- & Gordon J. Berman
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Research Highlight |
Jellyfish enter neuroscience research
Jellyfish are established as a model system for neuroscience.
- Nina Vogt
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Article |
FlyWire: online community for whole-brain connectomics
FlyWire is an online community and a platform for proofreading electron microscopy-based connectome data of the Drosophila brain.
- Sven Dorkenwald
- , Claire E. McKellar
- & H. Sebastian Seung
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Research Highlight |
A multimodal whole-body atlas
Researchers have registered a gene expression atlas to a whole-body EM volume of a marine bristle worm.
- Rita Strack
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Research Highlight |
X-ray connectomics
X-ray holographic nano-tomography is a promising complement to electron microscopy for connectomics studies.
- Nina Vogt
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Article |
An optimized acetylcholine sensor for monitoring in vivo cholinergic activity
A genetically encoded acetylcholine sensor with improved sensitivity allows detection of cholinergic neurotransmission in vivo in the Drosophila and mouse brain.
- Miao Jing
- , Yuexuan Li
- & Yulong Li
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Brief Communication |
High-sensitivity and high-specificity biomechanical imaging by stimulated Brillouin scattering microscopy
Stimulated Brillouin scattering microscopy overcomes the trade-off between acquisition speed and spectral resolution in spontaneous Brillouin scattering microscopy and allows visualization of elasticity and viscosity, as shown in C. elegans.
- Itay Remer
- , Roni Shaashoua
- & Alberto Bilenca
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Research Highlight |
Trapping fluorescence in the soma
Tethering fluorescent proteins to ribosomes clears up background signals when imaging neural circuits.
- Nina Vogt
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Research Highlight |
It’s a material world
The assembly of polymers can be genetically targeted to specific neurons or other cells to manipulate their properties.
- Nina Vogt
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Brief Communication |
Gas cluster ion beam SEM for imaging of large tissue samples with 10 nm isotropic resolution
An alternative to focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), gas cluster ion beam scanning electron microscopy (GCIB-SEM) is compatible with large tissue samples while achieving similar isotropic resolution.
- Kenneth J. Hayworth
- , David Peale
- & Harald F. Hess
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Research Highlight |
A bright future for voltage imaging
The hybrid voltage-indicator Voltron combines the voltage sensitivity of microbial rhodopsins with the brightness and photostability of chemical dyes.
- Nina Vogt
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Article |
A cryo-FIB lift-out technique enables molecular-resolution cryo-ET within native Caenorhabditis elegans tissue
A technique to ‘lift out’ samples of interest from high-pressure-frozen specimens expands applications of cryo-electron tomography to multicellular organisms and tissue.
- Miroslava Schaffer
- , Stefan Pfeffer
- & Juergen M. Plitzko
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Article |
Gene expression atlas of a developing tissue by single cell expression correlation analysis
A method for analyzing scRNA-seq data sets based on correlations of gene expression allows construction of an atlas of the Drosophila wing disc.
- Josephine Bageritz
- , Philipp Willnow
- & Aurelio A. Teleman
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Article |
EPIC: software toolkit for elution profile-based inference of protein complexes
A software tool, EPIC, is developed to determine protein complex membership using chromatographic fractionation–mass spectrometry data, and is applied to map the global Caenorhabditis elegans interactome.
- Lucas ZhongMing Hu
- , Florian Goebels
- & Andrew Emili
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Article |
Fast, in vivo voltage imaging using a red fluorescent indicator
VARNAM is a red-shifted genetically encoded voltage sensor based on the Ace opsin. It is applied in Drosophila, mouse brain slices and behaving mice. It can be readily combined with blue-light-sensitive tools for dual-color applications.
- Madhuvanthi Kannan
- , Ganesh Vasan
- & Vincent A. Pieribone
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Brief Communication |
FLIRT: fast local infrared thermogenetics for subcellular control of protein function
FLIRT enables spatiotemporally precise control of protein function in C. elegans by harnessing existing temperature-sensitive mutations. Proteins can be inactivated at desired sites by infrared laser light targeted to the region(s) of interest.
- Sophia M. Hirsch
- , Sriramkumar Sundaramoorthy
- & Julie C. Canman
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Research Highlight |
Detecting acetylcholine
A genetically encoded sensor based on G-protein-coupled receptors can detect the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in vitro and in vivo.
- Nina Vogt
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Methods in Brief |
Chronic imaging of the fruit fly brain
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Research Highlights |
Live-streaming the cytoplasm
A new approach uses beams of light to direct cytoplasmic flows.
- Tal Nawy
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Research Highlights |
Reflecting on light sheets
Reflective coverslips can improve spatiotemporal resolution and collection efficiency in diSPIM light-sheet fluorescence microscopy.
- Christian Schnell
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Research Highlights |
It takes two to trans-Tango
Trans-Tango allows trans-synaptic mapping of presynaptic and postsynaptic partners in Drosophila.
- Nina Vogt
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Tools in Brief |
Tracking cell migration in vivo
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Tools in Brief |
Electrophysiology in intact Caenorhabditis elegans
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Methods in Brief |
Biomechanical properties measured in vivo
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Brief Communication |
Optogenetic inhibition of behavior with anion channelrhodopsins
Anion channelrhodopsins are light-sensitive chloride channels that can be used as optogenetic inhibitors. Mohammad et al. report their application in Drosophila, showing that various behaviors can be inhibited in a light-dependent manner.
- Farhan Mohammad
- , James C Stewart
- & Adam Claridge-Chang
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Research Highlights |
A nervous system from Mom and a gonad from Dad
A simple tweak on the zygote's mitotic spindle generated hybrid Caenorhabditis elegans with certain tissues (such as those of the nervous system) consisting of entirely maternal genomes and others (such as the germline) consisting of entirely paternal genomes.
- Kate Gao
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Research Highlights |
NBLAST: a similarity search for neurons
By analogy to protein and DNA similarity searches, NBLAST provides a fast and efficient way of finding morphological similarities between neurons.
- Nina Vogt
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Tools in Brief |
Super-resolution imaging in live fly larvae with RESOLFT
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Tools in Brief |
Optogenetic mutagenesis in worms
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Tools in Brief |
Voltage sensors for in vivo applications
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Research Highlights |
Pressuring neurons into action
An alternative to optogenetics, sonogenetics uses ultrasound to mechanically stimulate neurons.
- Nina Vogt
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Article |
Whole-animal functional and developmental imaging with isotropic spatial resolution
IsoView microscopy achieves rapid isotropic-resolution imaging of large, nontransparent samples using simultaneous light-sheet illumination and fluorescence detection in four orthogonal directions.
- Raghav K Chhetri
- , Fernando Amat
- & Philipp J Keller
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Tools in Brief |
A light switch for microtubule dynamics
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Tools in Brief |
A DNA-based sensor for intracellular chloride
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Technology Feature |
Metabolism: feeding fruit flies
Measuring how much a fruit fly eats opens the door to studies of metabolism and aging. But the assays are hotly debated.
- Vivien Marx
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Tools in Brief |
Pre- and postsynaptic activity reporters
A positively tuned voltage indicator for extended electrical recordings in the brain