Increased neural activity of a mushroom body neuron subtype in the brains of forager honeybees.

ABSTRACT: Honeybees organize a sophisticated society, and the workers transmit information about the location of food sources using a symbolic dance, known as 'dance communication'. Recent studies indicate that workers integrate sensory information during foraging flight for dance communication. The neural mechanisms that account for this remarkable ability are, however, unknown. In the present study, we established a novel method to visualize neural activity in the honeybee brain using a novel immediate early gene, kakusei, as a marker of neural activity. The kakusei transcript was localized in the nuclei of brain neurons and did not encode an open reading frame, suggesting that it functions as a non-coding nuclear RNA. Using this method, we show that neural activity of a mushroom body neuron subty

SUBMITTER: Kiya T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1847703 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature