The scientists were able to track the bees’ brain activity by making them glow when they worked. This has been reported by the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf.
Insects are important model organisms for research. Despite over 600 million years of independent evolution, more than 60% of insects’ DNA is identical to human DNA. For several decades, the subjects were mostly fruit flies, whose genetic codes could be used to study biological processes. Later, bees were included in similar studies because of their social behavior.
Albrecht Haase et al. forced Bees produce light signals when their brain neurons are active. “We’ve altered the honey bees’ genetic code so that their brain cells will produce a fluorescent protein, a type of sensor that allows us to monitor areas activated in response to external stimuli. The intensity of the emitted light changes depending on neural activity,” explain the authors.
The scientists say this idea is particularly difficult to implement because they have to work with the DNA of queen bees. Unlike fruit flies, queen bees are not easy to keep in the laboratory – they need their own colony. After genetic modification, the queens passed these genes on to their offspring, worker bees.
This population was eventually used to study the bees’ sense of smell and how olfactory perception is “encoded” in neurons. Insects were stimulated by various odors and observed with a high-resolution microscope to see which brain cells these odors activated and how this information was distributed in the brain.
This work will bring scientists closer to solving one of the most important tasks of modern science – to build a comprehensive model of the workings of the brain and thinking.