Tangential neurons of the fan-shaped body in Megalopta genalis, Eciton hamatum and Bombus terrestris
(2021) MOBK01 20211Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
- Popular Abstract
- Comparing FB tangential neurons
Every living person has got a brain (even if we sometime question it!) The same goes for all other animals, including insects. Theirs are, however, much smaller and simpler. From a practical (and ethical) standpoint, it is therefore much easier to study insect brains than human brains. One interesting field of study is the navigational ability of insects.
The primary unit of the brain is the neuron. This is a cell capable of communicating with other neurons through electrical impulses. Naturally, this also holds true for the “Central Complex”, or “the CX”, the part of the insect’s brain responsible for their navigational ability. While both humans and insects have brain consisting mainly of neurons,... (More) - Comparing FB tangential neurons
Every living person has got a brain (even if we sometime question it!) The same goes for all other animals, including insects. Theirs are, however, much smaller and simpler. From a practical (and ethical) standpoint, it is therefore much easier to study insect brains than human brains. One interesting field of study is the navigational ability of insects.
The primary unit of the brain is the neuron. This is a cell capable of communicating with other neurons through electrical impulses. Naturally, this also holds true for the “Central Complex”, or “the CX”, the part of the insect’s brain responsible for their navigational ability. While both humans and insects have brain consisting mainly of neurons, the CX is a structure that is not only exclusively found in insects but has been found in every insect species examined to date! Three different classes of neurons exist in the CX, one of them being the tangential neurons. These neurons transmit information to the CX from other parts of the brain which can be used in navigation. One example is visual clues in the environment such as trees or other plants. The CX consist of four different parts. The least understood part is called “the fan-shaped body” (FB).
The FB has been linked with sleep, arousal, motor control and visual recognition. As different species live very different lives, their central complexes should also be different. My project has consisted of tracing tangential neurons going into the FB, also called TU neurons. This was done in a program called CATMAID. The program allows the user to create a 3D map of the neurons. By then comparing the tangential neurons of ants, bees, and bumblebees, I can determine whether the tangential neurons look the same or not in every species.
While there still remains many potential TU neurons to be traced, there seems to be a noticeable difference in the quantity of tangential neurons going into the FB. The bee for example has many more TU cells than the bumblebee.
More neurons must be investigated before any conclusions can be made but current results indicate that the number of TU neurons varies between species.
Supervisor: Stanley Heinze
Bachelor’s project in molecular biology 15 hp VT 2021
Biological institution, Lund university (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9060078
- author
- Borgström, Martin
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MOBK01 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9060078
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-30 15:42:45
- date last changed
- 2021-06-30 15:42:45
@misc{9060078, author = {{Borgström, Martin}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Tangential neurons of the fan-shaped body in Megalopta genalis, Eciton hamatum and Bombus terrestris}}, year = {{2021}}, }