Proboscis Extension Reflex in Apis mellifera [Honeybee] with Only One Antenna

Yu Guo; Zilong Wang; Zhijiang Zeng; Shaowu Zhang; Runsheng Chen

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.2624

Proboscis Extension Reflex in Apis mellifera [Honeybee] with Only One Antenna

Bio Protoc. 2017 Dec 5;7(23):e2624. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2624.

Authors

Yu Guo^{1

2}, Zilong Wang³, Zhijiang Zeng³, Shaowu Zhang^{1

3

4}, Runsheng Chen^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of RNA Biology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ Honeybee Research Institute, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China.
⁴ Research School of Biology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
⁵ Research Network of Computational Biology (RNCB), Beijing, China.

Abstract

The proboscis extension reflex (PER) is a common classical conditioned reflex which is widely used in the neurology and ethology. In honeybees, PER experiments can train bees to associate an odor with a reward or punishment. Here we present a variation of the PER experiment in Apis mellifera that trains honeybees using only one antenna. This variation on the PER paradigm could assist research efforts in fields which study lateralization within the nervous system.

Keywords: Honeybee; Neuroscience; Odor; PER.