2. Behavioral Biology TALKS - Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft

moths’ perception of sex-pheromones. Another amazing ability of social insects is
their chemical recognition system that allows colony-specific recognition of
individuals.
I will demonstrate how the olfactory system of leaf-cutting ants is adapted for high
sensitivity to detect the trail pheromone, and how distinct neuroanatomical
phenotypes of the olfactory pathway may contribute to division of labor in this highly
derived social insect species (Kuebler et al. (2010) JCompNeurol. 518). In a second
example, I will introduce the neuronal basis of nestmate recognition in the Florida
carpenter ant. Surprisingly, the results we obtained in our studies on the neuronal
representation of CHCs and the classification of an odor, as being ‘nestmate’ or ‘nonnestmate’,
is not consistent with the current notion that in the antennal lobe, the
spatio-temporal representation itself has coding properties to assess the quality of an
odor (Brandstaetter et al. (2011) JNeurophysiol. 106:). This illustrates how powerful
the diverse adaptations found in the olfactory system of social insects are to address
even very basic questions in olfaction.
�103 Marlene Binzer A 701 / 14:30
Neuropeptides in the antennal lobe and the mushroom body of Tribolium
castaneum: direct peptide profiling and immunohistology
Authors: Marlene Binzer 1 , Carsten Michael Heuer 1 , Joachim Schachtner 1
Affiliation: 1 Philipps-Universität Marburg, Dept. Biology, Animal Physiology
Among the signaling molecules involved in neuronal communication, neuropeptides
represent the largest and most diverse group. They are able to shape the activity
pattern of neuronal circuits and are thus accepted to be of major importance for the
functional condition and output pattern of the central nervous system. Furthermore,
neuropeptides are thought to be involved in processes related to neuronal plasticity,
the substrate for learning and memory.
In the presented project we aim to characterize the neuropeptide repertoire of two
integrative neuropils in the olfactory pathway of the red flour beetle Tribolium
castaneum, the antennal lobes (ALs) and the mushroom bodies (MBs). The ALs act as
primary olfactory centers that receive direct input from olfactory receptor neurons
and are involved in early processing and modification of olfactory signals They are
intimately linked to higher integrative brain centers such as the MBs, which also
receive information from other sensory modalities. In T. castaneum, the MBs
comprise a single knob-shaped calyx, a stalk-like peduncle, and a medial and vertical
lobe, each consisting of distinct subdivisions formed by Kenyon cell processes.
To further reveal the principal repertoire and the potential role of neuropeptides in
the AL and the MB, these neuropils were investigated by two complementary
methods. To assess the full range of the AL and MB neuropeptidome, isolated tissue
samples of these brain centers were subjected to MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry by
direct peptide profiling. Immunohistochemical stainings allowed us to confirm the
presence of neuropeptide transmitters and to localize sites of expression in the ALs
and MBs of T. castaneum.
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