A Model for Modulation of Hebbian Plasticity and Its Potential Role in Regulating Attention in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Abstract: A honey bee colony contains a mixture of many different genotypes because of multiple mating by the queen, which is important for integration of colony function. With respect to learning performance, my lab and others have shown that foragers differ in how they perform on basic learning tasks, and that this variation arises from their genotypes. For example, repeated exposure to an odor without reinforcement produces Latent Inhibition, which is revealed by slower learning about the now ‘familiar’ odor relative to a ‘novel’ one, which reflects reallocation of attention. We have shown that we can establish high and low genetic lines with respect to how workers perform on this task. Field colonies treated with foragers of one genotype or the other, or to a mixture, show that this genotype reflects attention to known resources versus exploration for new ones. QTL mapping of high and low lines has shown that the biogenic amine receptor Amtyr1 is associated with different behavioral performance. We have disrupted functioning of this gene to show how it affects Latent Inhibition, which combined with computational modeling and mapping its distribution in the brain suggests a model of how it is integrated as a kind of gain control into neural circuitry. Amtyr1 has now been implicated in several disparate behaviors in honey bees. From a mechanistic standpoint, why, and how, can one gene have such broad phenotypic effects? The answer may lie in how Amtyr1 works with a broader set of genes, and in conjunction with other transmitters like octopamine, that may be engaged in gene networks.

Bio: Brian Smith is an inaugural Trustees of ASU Professor. He is a behavioral neuroscientist who studies how animals learn about odors in order to predict important events, such as an encounter with food, a mate or predator. His research employs detailed behavioral studies of learning and memory. He and his research team also use a combination of electrophysiological, bioimaging, molecular and computational techniques to directly link changes in behavior to changes in the brain.

Professor Smith’s research focuses on learning and memory systems in both insects and mammals. His work is being applied to studies of human diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as to the negative effects of heavy metal poisoning on learning and memory.

Lab's webpage: https://search.asu.edu/profile/843330

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