Monoamine secretion and synaptic modulation during olfactory conditioning in Drosophila

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Biogenic amines play a pivotal role in orchestration and modulation of behaviors, such as aggression, motivation or learning, in vertebrate and invertebrate species. Within the context of associative memory formation the biogenic amines dopamine (DA) and octopamine (OA) - the invertebrate orthologe to noradrenaline - are of extreme importance as they play a rather complex role: On the one hand, DA and OA are directly involved in memory formation as they mediate rewarding or punishing situations to the animal. On the other hand, DA and OA are involved in control of the animal´s motivational status and thus indirectly control whether a given memory gaines control over behavior. These direct and indirect implications of DA/OA signaling on learning & memory challenge functional analyses.Here we propose to use the well established Drosophila odor learning paradigm to dissect the role of discrete DA or OA receptors (DA-R and OA-R, respectively) on memory formation and behavioral control. To that end we will develop genetic tools to (i) analyze the anatomical organization of distinct receptors within the flies brain by high-resolution STED microscopy and (ii) use tissue specific loss-of-function techniques to investigate their role in memory formation and behavioral expression within the well established odor-learning paradigm.Within the FOR we will tightly collaborate with the group of Stevenson by providing highresolution STED microscopy to the cricket system, with the group of Brembs by providing genetic tools for behavioral analyses in fruit flies and with the group of Eisenhardt by providing antibody expertise to generate antibodies against the bee homologue of the flies bruchpilot gene.