Premium
Statistical analysis of unidirectional and reciprocal chemical connections in the C. elegans connectome
Author(s) -
Wright Edgar A.P.,
Goltsev Alexander V.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/ejn.14988
Subject(s) - connectome , reciprocal , neuroscience , caenorhabditis elegans , hebbian theory , hermaphrodite , biology , neuron , afferent , computer science , functional connectivity , artificial neural network , artificial intelligence , ecology , genetics , philosophy , linguistics , gene
We analyze unidirectional and reciprocally connected pairs of neurons in the chemical connectomes of the male and hermaphrodite Caenorhabditis elegans , using recently published data. Our analysis reveals that reciprocal connections provide communication between most neurons with chemical synapses, and comprise on average more synapses than both unidirectional connections and the entire connectome. We further reveal that the C. elegans connectome is wired so that afferent connections onto neurons with large numbers of presynaptic neighbors (in‐degree) comprise an above‐average number of synapses (synaptic multiplicity). Notably, the larger the in‐degree of a neuron the larger the synaptic multiplicity of its afferent connections. Finally, we show that the male forms two times fewer reciprocal connections between sex‐shared neurons than the hermaphrodite, but a large number of reciprocal connections with male‐specific neurons. These observations provide evidence for Hebbian structural plasticity in the C. elegans .