Julio Antonio Otárola Jiménez

Phd Thesis started in 2021
How learning affects oviposition choice in Drosophila melanogaster
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Georg Pohnert, Dr. Markus Knaden, Prof. Dr. Bill S. Hansson

I study how learning affects the behavior of Drosophila melanogaster. It is known how different factors such as ageing, predators, substrates and social interaction affect oviposition behavior. However, it is not well known whether the oviposition experience also affects subsequent ovipositions. I am investigating the variables that might be involved in oviposition learning. For example, volatile chemical compounds are detected by olfactory receptors in the antenna, which send electrical signals to the antenna lobe (first processing centre), where different glomeruli receive this information and then send the processed information to the higher brain (mushroom body), which is responsible for learning. Some chemicals can activate many Ors, others only a few. We are therefore investigating how quickly females can learn different odors with different Ors activation capacities. 

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