Patterned cell death sculpts functional and adaptive neural networks in flies
Changes to the structure and function of neural networks are thought to underlie the evolutionary adaptation of animal behaviours. Among the many developmental phenomena that generate change programmed cell death appears to play a key role. We show that cell death occurs continuously throughout insect neurogenesis and happens soon after neurons are born. Focusing on two dipterans which have lost flight during evolution we reveal that reductions in populations of flight interneurons are likely caused by increased cell death during development. Mimicking an evolutionary role for increasing cell numbers, we artificially block programmed cell death in the medial neuroblast lineage in Drosophila melanogaster, which results in the production of undead neurons with complex arborisations and distinct neurotransmitter identities. Activation of these undead neurons and recordings of neural activity in behaving animals demonstrate that they are functional. Our findings suggest that the evolutionary modulation of death-based patterning could generate novel network configurations.