The Rich Club of the C. elegans Neuronal Connectome
The Rich Club of the C. elegans Neuronal Connectome
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.3784-12.2013
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发表时间：
2013-04-10
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Bullmore, Edward T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Towlson, Emma K.;Vertes, Petra E.;Bullmore, Edward T.
作为复杂系统的大脑网络的拓扑分析越来越受到关注，研究人员经常使用神经成像来表示神经系统的大规模组织，而没有精确的细胞分辨率。在这里，我们用图论来研究线虫秀丽隐杆线虫的神经元连接组，这是在细胞尺度上定义为279个神经元之间的2287个突触连接。我们发现了少量高度连接的神经元作为一个丰富的俱乐部（N = 11），以高效率和高连接距离相互连接。丰富的俱乐部神经元几乎完全包括运动回路的中间神经元，具有协调运动的重要功能。丰富的俱乐部神经元是连接器枢纽，具有高介数中心性，并且与不同模块中的节点有许多模块间连接。在识别外围神经元对之间的最短拓扑路径（基序）时，发现最频繁的基序穿过富人俱乐部。丰富的俱乐部神经元出生在早期的发展，之前可见的运动的动物和之前的主要阶段的发展伸长的身体。我们的结论是，在C。elegans连接体的合理性在于动物协调运动的适应价值。在细胞连接体中丰富的俱乐部组织的物理成本和行为价值之间的经济权衡证实了理论预期，并概括了人类神经成像在更大规模网络上的可比结果，这表明这可能是大脑网络组织的一般和尺度不变原则。
There is increasing interest in topological analysis of brain networks as complex systems, with researchers often using neuroimaging to represent the large-scale organization of nervous systems without precise cellular resolution. Here we used graph theory to investigate the neuronal connectome of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which is defined anatomically at a cellular scale as 2287 synaptic connections between 279 neurons. We identified a small number of highly connected neurons as a rich club (N = 11) interconnected with high efficiency and high connection distance. Rich club neurons comprise almost exclusively the interneurons of the locomotor circuits, with known functional importance for coordinated movement. The rich club neurons are connector hubs, with high betweenness centrality, and many intermodular connections to nodes in different modules. On identifying the shortest topological paths (motifs) between pairs of peripheral neurons, the motifs that are found most frequently traverse the rich club. The rich club neurons are born early in development, before visible movement of the animal and before the main phase of developmental elongation of its body. We conclude that the high wiring cost of the globally integrative rich club of neurons in the C. elegans connectome is justified by the adaptive value of coordinated movement of the animal. The economical trade-off between physical cost and behavioral value of rich club organization in a cellular connectome confirms theoretical expectations and recapitulates comparable results from human neuroimaging on much larger scale networks, suggesting that this may be a general and scale-invariant principle of brain network organization.