The functional role of octopamine and tyramine during insect behaviour

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In this research proposal the aim is to understand how insect behaviour is orchestrated by biogenic amines, and as an example we shall use the “pair” tyramine/octopamine. Octopamine and tyramine play important roles in modulating motor behaviour and, in general, octopamine changes the whole organism from a more static to a more dynamic state and is involved in aggression, foraging, social behaviour, learning and memory. We shall work with identified or type-characterized neurons and by recording from them study the precise timing of their activity during development and behaviour. In detail we shall firstly study descending tyraminergic/octopaminergic neurons of the brain with respect to their sensory inputs, their patterns of activity, their outputs, in order to reveal their connectivity. Secondly, we shall study tyraminergic/octopaminergic neurons under different behavioural conditions and, thus, reveal their respective tyramine/octopamine ratios which dramatically change during certain behaviours. Thirdly, we would like to study the specific effects of tyramine and octopamine on central networks. Fourthly, as we can identify tyraminergic/octopaminergic neurons and as we know the distribution of octopamine- and tyramine-immunoreactivity in different compartments, we would like to study the release mechanisms of these neurons and the functional differences between type I (motor) and type II (neuromodulatory) terminals including their ultrastructure.