Kim Seongkyun, Kim Hyoungkyu, Kralik Jerald D, Jeong Jaeseung
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Program of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2016 Aug 19;12(8):e1005084. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005084. eCollection 2016 Aug.
Determining the fundamental architectural design of complex nervous systems will lead to significant medical and technological advances. Yet it remains unclear how nervous systems evolved highly efficient networks with near optimal sharing of pathways that yet produce multiple distinct behaviors to reach the organism's goals. To determine this, the nematode roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans is an attractive model system. Progress has been made in delineating the behavioral circuits of the C. elegans, however, many details are unclear, including the specific functions of every neuron and synapse, as well as the extent the behavioral circuits are separate and parallel versus integrative and serial. Network analysis provides a normative approach to help specify the network design. We investigated the vulnerability of the Caenorhabditis elegans connectome by performing computational experiments that (a) "attacked" 279 individual neurons and 2,990 weighted synaptic connections (composed of 6,393 chemical synapses and 890 electrical junctions) and (b) quantified the effects of each removal on global network properties that influence information processing. The analysis identified 12 critical neurons and 29 critical synapses for establishing fundamental network properties. These critical constituents were found to be control elements-i.e., those with the most influence over multiple underlying pathways. Additionally, the critical synapses formed into circuit-level pathways. These emergent pathways provide evidence for (a) the importance of backward locomotion, avoidance behavior, and social feeding behavior to the organism; (b) the potential roles of specific neurons whose functions have been unclear; and
确定复杂神经系统的基本架构设计将带来重大的医学和技术进步。然而，目前尚不清楚神经系统是如何进化出高效的网络，这些网络具有近乎最优的通路共享，却仍能产生多种不同行为以实现生物体的目标。为了确定这一点，线虫秀丽隐杆线虫是一个有吸引力的模型系统。在描绘秀丽隐杆线虫的行为回路方面已经取得了进展，然而，许多细节仍不清楚，包括每个神经元和突触的具体功能，以及行为回路在何种程度上是分离和平行的，还是整合和串行的。网络分析提供了一种规范方法来帮助确定网络设计。我们通过进行计算实验来研究秀丽隐杆线虫连接组的脆弱性，这些实验（a）“攻击”279个单个神经元和2990个加权突触连接（由6393个化学突触和890个电突触组成），（b）量化每次移除对影响信息处理的全局网络属性的影响。分析确定了12个关键神经元和29个关键突触，用于建立基本的网络属性。这些关键成分被发现是控制元件，即那些对多个潜在通路影响最大的元件。此外，关键突触形成了回路级通路。这些新兴通路为（a）向后运动、回避行为和社会进食行为对生物体的重要性；（b）功能尚不清楚的特定神经元的潜在作用；提供了证据，以及
