{
  "abstract": "Sex differences in behavior exist across all animals, typically under strong genetic regulation. In Drosophila, fruitless/doublesex transcription factors identify dimorphic neurons, but their organization into functional circuits remains unclear. We present the connectome of the entire Drosophila male central nervous system. This contains 166,700 neurons spanning the brain and nerve cord, fully proofread and annotated, including fruitless/doublesex expression and 11,710 neuron types. We provide the first comprehensive comparison between male and female brain connectomes to synaptic resolution, finding 8,069 isomorphic, 138 dimorphic, 289 male-specific, and 71 female-specific types. This resource enables analysis of full sensory-to-motor circuits underlying complex behaviors and the impact of dimorphic elements. Sex-specific/dimorphic neurons are concentrated in higher brain centers, while the sensory and motor periphery is largely isomorphic. Within higher centers, male-specific connections are organized into hotspots defined by male-specific neurons or arbors. Dimorphic neurons reroute information across sexes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA; Janelia FlyEM Project Team, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA. Electronic address: bergs@janelia.hhmi.org",
    "Neurobiology Division, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK",
    "Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 3EJ, UK",
    "Neurobiology Division, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 3EJ, UK",
    "Google Research, Google LLC, 8004 Zürich, Switzerland",
    "Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA",
    "Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA; Janelia FlyEM Project Team, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA",
    "Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK",
    "Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EG, UK",
    "Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, UK; Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA",
    "Champalimaud Foundation, 1400-038 Lisbon, Portugal",
    "Institute of Neuroscience, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), 20854 Vedano al Lambro, MB, Italy; Neurobiology Division, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 100,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Stuart Berg",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0766-0488"
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        1
      ],
      "name": "Isabella R. Beckett",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-3527-6782"
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        2
      ],
      "name": "Marta Costa",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5948-3092"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Schlegel Philipp"
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        4
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      "name": "Michał Januszewski",
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        2
      ],
      "name": "Elizabeth C. Marin",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6333-0072"
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        5
      ],
      "name": "Aljoscha Nern",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3822-489X"
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      "name": "Stephan Preibisch",
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      ],
      "name": "Wei Qiu",
      "orcid": "0009-0008-1764-5928"
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      "name": "Shin-ya Takemura",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2400-6426"
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      "name": "Alexandra M. C. Fragniere",
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      "name": "Andrew S Champion",
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      "name": "Diane-Yayra Adjavon",
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      "name": "Michael Cook",
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      "name": "Griffin S. Badalamente",
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      "name": "Alexander Shakeel Bates",
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      "name": "Rory J. Beresford",
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      "name": "Ines de Haan Vicente",
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      "name": "Christopher R Dunne",
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      "name": "Miriam A Flynn",
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      "name": "Imran Hameed"
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      "name": "Gary Patrick Hopkins",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6918-1589"
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      "name": "Philip M. Hubbard",
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  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dgtvmek3k2ybg.bib",
  "cited_by": 80,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.015",
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  "id": "dgtvmek3k2ybg",
  "issns": [
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    "1097-4172"
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  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.015",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "2804|Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research"
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  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC12636603",
  "pmid": "42691995",
  "published": "2026-09-01",
  "publisher": "Cell Press",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dgtvmek3k2ybg.ris",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.015"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2804|Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Sexual dimorphism in the complete Drosophila male central nervous system connectome",
  "title_text": "Sexual dimorphism in the complete Drosophila male central nervous system connectome",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dgtvmek3k2ybg",
  "venue": "Cell",
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