PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Aaron M. Allen
AU  - Megan C. Neville
AU  - Sebastian Birtles
AU  - Vincent Croset
AU  - Christoph D. Treiber
AU  - Scott Waddell
AU  - Stephen F. Goodwin
TI  - A single-cell transcriptomic atlas of the adult <em>Drosophila</em> ventral nerve cord
AID  - 10.1101/2019.12.20.883884
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2019.12.20.883884
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/12/20/2019.12.20.883884.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/12/20/2019.12.20.883884.full
AB  - The Drosophila ventral nerve cord (VNC) receives and processes descending signals from the brain to produce a variety of coordinated locomotor outputs. It also integrates sensory information from the periphery and sends ascending signals to the brain. We used single-cell transcriptomics to generate an unbiased classification of cellular diversity in the VNC of five-day old adult flies. We produced an atlas of 26,000 high-quality cells, representing more than 100 transcriptionally distinct cell types. The predominant gene signatures defining neuronal cell types reflect shared developmental histories based on the neuroblast from which cells were derived, as well as their birth order. Cells could also be assigned to specific neuromeres using adult Hox gene expression. This single-cell transcriptional atlas of the adult fly VNC will be a valuable resource for future studies of neurodevelopment and behavior.