Experience-Dependent Plasticity in Insects

Presentation

The objective of our team is the integrative study of experience-dependent plasticity in insects, with a particular focus on cognitive functions, such as visual and olfactory learning and memory. Three model species (honeybee, bumblebee, Drosophila), for which detailed descriptions of brain anatomy and genome are now available, are used to explore behavioral plasticity in ecologically relevant tasks and to track down their genetic, molecular and neural mechanisms bases. The comparative analysis between species exhibiting various levels of social complexities provides a unique opportunity to consider experience-dependent plasticity in a social context.

Our multidisciplinary approach is poised at the interface between experimental psychology, neurobiology, molecular biology, behavioral genetics and cognitive ecology. We use state-of the-art techniques spanning from behavioral observations of free-flying bees foraging on computer-controlled flowers, to the conditioning of harnessed individuals presented with tightly controlled stimuli, the identification of neural circuits involved in memory formation using transgenes, and the detailed tracking of neurotransmission processes in targeted brain structures.

Projets

Publications

• Singh M, Acerbi A, Caldwell CA, Danchin É, Isabel G, Molleman L, Scott-Phillips T, Tamariz M, van den Berg P, van Leeuwen EJC, Derex M.
  Beyond social learning
  Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021 Jul 5;376(1828):20200050.
  2021 Jul doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0050.
• Giurfa M, Giurfa de Brito A, Giurfa de Brito T, de Brito Sanchez MG.
  Charles Henry Turner and the cognitive behavior of bees.
  Apidologie (2021)
  2021 Jul PMID: 33934411
• Bestea L, Réjaud A, Sandoz JC, Carcaud J, Giurfa M, de Brito Sanchez MG..
  Peripheral taste detection in honey bees: What do taste receptors respond to?
  Eur J Neurosci. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15265
  2021 Jun
• Monchanin C, Drujont E, Devaud JM, Lihoreau M, Barron AB .
  Heavy metal pollutants have addictive effects on honey bee cognition
  Journal of Experimental Biology, jeb.241869. doi: 10.1242/jeb.241869
  2021 May
• Monchanin C, Blanc-Brude A, Drujont E, Negahi MM, Pasquaretta C, Silvestre J, Baqué D, Elger A, Barron AB, Devaud JM, Lihoreau M.
  Chronic exposure to lead impairs honey bee learning
  Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 212:112008
  2021 Apr

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Funding