TY - JOUR
T1 - The beginning of connectomics
T2 - A commentary on White et al. (1986) ‘The structure of the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans’
AU - Emmons, Scott W.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Authors.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The article ‘Structure of the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans’ (aka ‘The mind of a worm’) by White et al., published for the first time the complete set of synaptic connections in the nervous system of an animal. The work was carried out as part of a programme to begin to understand how genes determine the structure of a nervous system and how a nervous system creates behaviour. It became a major stimulus to the field of C. elegans research, which has since contributed insights into all areas of biology. Twenty-six years elapsed before developments, notably more powerful computers, made new studies of this kind possible. It is hoped that one day knowledge of synaptic structure, the connectome, together with results of many other investigations, will lead to an understanding of the human brain. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
AB - The article ‘Structure of the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans’ (aka ‘The mind of a worm’) by White et al., published for the first time the complete set of synaptic connections in the nervous system of an animal. The work was carried out as part of a programme to begin to understand how genes determine the structure of a nervous system and how a nervous system creates behaviour. It became a major stimulus to the field of C. elegans research, which has since contributed insights into all areas of biology. Twenty-six years elapsed before developments, notably more powerful computers, made new studies of this kind possible. It is hoped that one day knowledge of synaptic structure, the connectome, together with results of many other investigations, will lead to an understanding of the human brain. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
KW - Caenorhabditis elegans
KW - Connectomics
KW - Nervous system
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U2 - 10.1098/rstb.2014.0309
DO - 10.1098/rstb.2014.0309
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25750233
AN - SCOPUS:84924300052
SN - 0962-8436
VL - 370
JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1666
ER -