Plasticity in Ant Mushroom Bodies and its Relationship to Sensory Processing and Behavior

蚂蚁复杂的社会生活方式是基于它们在个体一生中执行不同任务的能力（例如，育儿、看守、觅食）以及学习和记忆。这些行为是由大脑控制的，取决于大脑的可塑性。该项目的目的是研究大脑的结构和功能与大脑控制的复杂行为之间的因果关系。特定的大脑区域和产生复杂行为的单个神经细胞将在不同的蚂蚁物种中使用不同的解剖技术进行分析。形态差异将与各自物种或行会成员的行为表现相关（例如觅食蚁与看护蚁）。每只蚂蚁的行为和学习能力将被量化的标准化测试（例如迷宫表现），脑损伤对蚂蚁行为的影响将被评估，蚂蚁大脑中突出神经细胞的电活动将与行为变化相关联。总之，这些技术将有助于理解一个神经细胞数量有限的小大脑是如何产生群体生存所需的行为可塑性的。蚂蚁必须像大型动物和人类一样应对同样的一般问题和身体限制。它们的大脑以相同的原理运作，它们的神经细胞依靠相同的细胞机制和网络特性。与包括人类在内的脊椎动物不同，成千上万或数百万的神经细胞控制着每一个微小的行为组成部分，而蚂蚁的神经细胞要少得多。因此，单个神经细胞的活动对行为变化的影响要比在大型动物身上更强，而且可以更直接地研究蚂蚁。这一点以及它们复杂的行为和高学习能力使蚂蚁特别适合作为研究大脑可塑性的模型系统。研究蚂蚁在学习一项简单任务时大脑中发生的变化，可能有助于我们更好地理解我们自己的大脑是如何获得新能力并优化我们的行为输出的。

The complex social lifestyles of ants are based on their ability to performdifferent tasks during an individual's lifetime (e.g. brood-care, guarding, foraging)and on learning and memory. These behaviors are controlled by the brain and depend on brain plasticity. The aim of the project is to study the causal relationship between the structure and function of the brain and the complex behavior that itcontrols. Particular brain regions and individual nerve cells that generate complex behavior will be analyzed in different ant species using diverse anatomical techniques. Morphological differences will be correlated with the behavioral performance of therespective species or guild member (e.g. forager versus nurse ant). The behavior and learning ability of each ant will be quantified instandardized tests (e.g. maze performance), the effect of brain lesions onthe ant's behavior will be assessed, and the electrical activity ofprominent nerve cells in the ant brain will be correlated with behavioralchanges. Together, these techniques will help to understand how a smallbrain with a limited number of nerve cells can yet generate the behavioralplasticity required for the survival of the colony. Ants have to cope with the same general problems and physical constraints as larger animals and humans. Their brains function by the sameprinciples and their nerve cells rely on the same cellular mechanisms andnetwork properties. Unlike vertebrates including humans, where populationsof thousands or millions of nerve cells control each small behavioralcomponent, in ants much fewer cells orchestrate the behavior. Hence theeffect of a single nerve cell's activity on behavioral changes is muchstronger and can be studied much more directly in ants than in largeranimals. This and their complex behavior and high learning capacities makesthe ants particularly well suited as model systems for research on brainplasticity. Studying the changes that occur in the brains of ants thatlearn a simple task may help us to better understand how our own brainsacquire new capabilities and optimize our behavioral output.