Darya Task
Drosophila melanogaster Brain and Ventral Nerve Cord, 2018
Confocal photomicrograph
Zeiss LSM 700 confocal microscope; 10X objective
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
The vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has many organs for sensing smell and taste. The noses (antennae and maxillary palps), the mouth (labellum and pharynx), the legs, and the wings all play a role in sense. The sensory neurons in these organs send this information along bundles of nerve fibers (axons) to the brain and ventral nerve cord. In this image, these nerve fibers have been genetically labeled with green fluorescent protein, and the brain and ventral nerve cord have been stained in magenta. The width of this brain is no more than a few grains of table salt.