2. Behavioral Biology TALKS - Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft

Keywords: Achaearanea tepidariorum, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, embryonic
development, staging, embryogenesis, morphogenesis.
�27 Joris Bressan A 704 / 14:30
Comparative analysis of the Cardiocondyla obscurior brain
Authors: Joris Bressan 1 , Robert Knüppel 2 , Lukas Schrader 2 , Simon G. Sprecher 1 , Jan
Oettler 2
Affiliations: 1 DepartDepartment of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland;
2 Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, Germany
The brain of insects is organized of lineage related neuropile compartments. Several
aspects of neuropile compartmentalization have been suggested to be evolutionarily
conserved. However, compartments vary dramatically between different insects and
in general reflect functional differences. In contrast to most ants, the ant genus
Cardiocondyla (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) contains two male castes with distinct
behaviors and roles in the colony in addition to queens and workers. Thus
Cardiocondyla offers the unique opportunity to study brain plasticity in a social
insect. We here describe patterns of brain compartmentalization during
metamorphosis and in adults. We concluded a comparative analysis between the
Drosophila brain and the Cardiocondyla worker brain to identify the main different
compartments of the central brain and generated a descriptive 3D model of the
whole brain. We identified conserved neuropile compartments and major axon
scaffolds. We then constructed 3D models to measure compartment volumes in
developing larval brains. At an early stage of the 3rd (last) instar the brain size was
similar across castes. At the late 3rd instar brains of the winged castes are distinct in
size from the wingless castes. Some compartments in the early 3rd instar brain are
already differentiated in both winged castes, whereas in the wingless morphs these
compartments started to differentiate in late 3rd instars. This study will be the
backbone of our future collaborative work combining behavioral and
neuroanatomical plasticity in Cardiocondyla obscurior.
�28 Christina Schulte A 704 / 14:45
A transposon-mediated germline transformation system for the honeybee Apis
mellifera
Authors: Christina Schulte 1 , Martin Beye 1
Affiliation: 1 Heinrich-Heine-University, Institute of Evolutionary Genetics
We established a system for stable germline transformation in the honeybee Apis
mellifera by using piggyBac, a transposon discovered in the lepidopteran
Trichoplusiani. The transformation system has been widely used in nonsocial insects
and consists of the piggyBac inverted terminal repeats flanking the 3xP3 promoter
and a reportergene. We utilized rubia as reportergene that encodes a red
fluorescence protein. We in vitro synthesized mRNA encoding the piggyBac
transposase in order to catalyze the transposition. The transposon was coinjected
with this mRNA into female honeybee embryos which were reared to queens. We
found G1 individuals positive for Rubia protein and integration of the transgene into
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