Identification of the neuronal circuits required for ambiguous learning in honey bees apis mellifera

L'apprentissage associatif recouvre des niveaux variables de complexité, des tâches cognitives simples jusqu'à des tâches complexes qui nécessitent la résolution de discriminations ambigües. Cette thèse traite de deux protocoles présentant des ambigüités chez l'abeille, au cours desquels le blocage de la signalisation GABAergique des neurones récurrents sur les corps pédonculés, structures cérébrales majeures de l'apprentissage, est à l'origine de la perte de capacité de résolution ambigüe. Ces neurones, non requis pour les apprentissages simples, semblent donc indispensables à la résolution des ambigüités propres aux discriminations cognitives complexes et élaborées chez l'abeille.Associative learning spans different levels of complexity, from simple tasks involving simple causal relationships between events, to ambiguous tasks, in which animals have to solve complex discriminations based on non-linear associative links. We focused on two protocols presenting a temporal or configural ambiguity at the level of stimulus contingencies in honey bees (\textit{Apis mellifera}). We performed selective blockades of GABAergic signalisation from recurrent feedback neurons in the mushroom bodies (MBs), higher-order insect brain structures associated with memory storage and retrieval, and found that this blockade within the MB calyces impaired both ambiguous learning tasks, although if did not affect simple conditioning counterparts. We suggest that the A3v cluster of the GABA feedback neurons innervating the MBs calyces are thus dispensable for simple learning, but are required for counteracting stimulus ambiguity in complex discriminations in honey bees

Identification des réseaux neurobiologiques gouvernant les apprentissages ambigus chez l'abeille Apis mellifera

Associative learning spans different levels of complexity, from simple tasks involving simple causal relationships between events, to ambiguous tasks, in which animals have to solve complex discriminations based on non-linear associative links. We focused on two protocols presenting a temporal or configural ambiguity at the level of stimulus contingencies in honey bees (\textit{Apis mellifera}). We performed selective blockades of GABAergic signalisation from recurrent feedback neurons in the mushroom bodies (MBs), higher-order insect brain structures associated with memory storage and retrieval, and found that this blockade within the MB calyces impaired both ambiguous learning tasks, although if did not affect simple conditioning counterparts. We suggest that the A3v cluster of the GABA feedback neurons innervating the MBs calyces are thus dispensable for simple learning, but are required for counteracting stimulus ambiguity in complex discriminations in honey bees.L'apprentissage associatif recouvre des niveaux variables de complexité, des tâches cognitives simples jusqu'à des tâches complexes qui nécessitent la résolution de discriminations ambigües. Cette thèse traite de deux protocoles présentant des ambigüités chez l'abeille, au cours desquels le blocage de la signalisation GABAergique des neurones récurrents sur les corps pédonculés, structures cérébrales majeures de l'apprentissage, est à l'origine de la perte de capacité de résolution ambigüe. Ces neurones, non requis pour les apprentissages simples, semblent donc indispensables à la résolution des ambigüités propres aux discriminations cognitives complexes et élaborées chez l'abeille

Effects of bisphenol A on post-embryonic development of the cotton pest Spodoptera littoralis

International audienc

Unexpected effects of sublethal doses of insecticide on the peripheral olfactory response and sexual behavior in a pest insect

International audiencePesticides have long been used as the main solution to limit agricultural pests, but their widespread use resulted in chronic or diffuse environmental pollutions, development of insect resistances, and biodiversity reduction. The effects of low residual doses of these chemical products on organisms that affect both targeted species (crop pests) but also beneficial insects became a major concern, particularly because low doses of pesticides can induce unexpected positive-also called hormetic-effects on insects, leading to surges in pest population growth at greater rate than what would have been observed without pesticide application. The present study aimed to examine the effects of sublethal doses of deltamethrin, one of the most used synthetic pyrethroids, known to present a residual activity and persistence in the environment, on the peripheral olfactory system and sexual behavior of a major pest insect, the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis. We highlighted here a hormetic effect of sublethal dose of deltamethrin on the male responses to sex pheromone, without any modification of their response to host-plant odorants. We also identified several antennal actors potentially involved in this hormetic effect and in the antennal detoxification or antennal stress response of/to deltamethrin exposur