Biologische Funktion von Duftstoff-Bindeproteinen, deren Beziehung zu Duftstoffrezeptoren und zur metamorphischen Plastizität der zentralen olfaktorischen Bahn

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As a member of the largest insect order and a pest of stored agricultural products, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum presents an attractive emerging model organism to study olfaction. With the possibility of transgenic approaches such as directed gene expression, powerful reverse genetics based on systemic RNA-interference, the annotated full genome sequence, and its longevity, Tribolium offers a great system to address both odour recognition and discrimination at the periphery as well as the plasticity of the central olfactory pathway. In this project we combine transgenetic, optogenetic, reverse genetic, electrophysiological, chemical ecological, neurobiochemical and neuroanatomical approaches to study the correlation of odorants to odorant binding proteins (OBP) to odorant receptors (OR). The focus of the project will lie on the biological function of OBPs which is still largely unknown, despite their necessity for olfaction. Especially the interaction of OBPs with ORs will be of key interest. Moreover, the established tools will also be applied to study postmetamorphic plasticity of the central olfactory pathway including the first central odour processing centers, the antennal lobes, and higher processing centers, the mushroom bodies.