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

• Bestea L, Paoli M, Ronsin B, Arrufat P, Velarde R, Carcaud J, Sandoz JC, Giurfa M, de Brito Sanchez MG .
  The short neuropeptide F regulates appetitive but not aversive responsiveness in a social insect
  iScience 25: 103619
  2022 Jan
• Giurfa M, Luyat M.
  Gap affordance judgments in bumblebees: Same as humans?
  Learning & Behavior
  2021 Nov DOI: 10.3758/s13420-021-00486-1
• Josens R, Giacometti A, Giurfa M (2021) .
  Inhibition of serotonergic signaling induces higher consumption of both sucrose solution and toxic baits in carpenter ants
  Scientific Reports 11, 19176.
  2021 Nov DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-98030-8
• Baracchi D, Giurfa M, d’Ettorre P (2021) .
  Formic acid modulates latency and accuracy of nestmate recognition in carpenter ants
  Journal of Experimental Biology 224(20): jeb242784
  2021 Nov DOI: 10.1242/jeb.242784
• Finke V, Baracchi D, Giurfa M, Scheiner R, Avarguès-Weber A.
  Evidence of cognitive specialization in an insect: proficiency is maintained across elemental and higher-order visual learning but not between sensory modalities in honey bees
  Journal of Experimental Biology jeb.242470
  2021 Nov DOI: 10.1242/jeb.242470

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Funding