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

• Gómez-Moracho T, Durand T, Pasquaretta C, Heeb P, Lihoreau M.
  Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by Nosema ceranae in Bumblebees
  Microorganisms. 2021 Jan 12;9(1):E158.
  2021 Jan doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9010158.
• Colin T, Monchanin C, Lihoreau M, Barron AB..
  Pesticide dosing must be guided by ecological principles.
  Nat Ecol Evol. 2020 Dec;4(12):1575-1577.
  2020 Dec doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-01302-1.
• Le Moël F, Wystrach A. .
  Towards a multi-level understanding in insect navigation
  Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2020 Dec;42:110-117. Epub 2020 Oct 22.
  2020 Dec doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2020.10.006.
• Giurfa M, de Brito Sanchez G.
  Black lives matter: revisiting Charles Henry Turner’s experiments on honey bee color vision
  Current Biology 30(20): R1235-R1239. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.075
  2020 Nov Available for free download
• Durrieu M, Wystrach A, Arrufat P, Giurfa M, Isabel G..
  Fruit flies can learn non-elemental olfactory discriminations
  Proc Biol Sci. 2020 Nov 11;287(1938):20201234.
  2020 Nov doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1234

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Funding