CINCHRON Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN Early Stage Researcher: Determining how circadian clock genes regulate complex behaviours in the bumblebee.

Our objective is to determine how circadian clock genes regulate complex behaviours in the bumblebee. The circadian clock of bees influences complex behaviours such as time-compensated sun-compass navigation, time sensing, social synchronization, division of labour, and response to agrochemicals that are crucial for their social organization and foraging. However a genetic approach has not been attempted in order to definitively link the clock to these phenotypes. Using a molecular and mutagenesis approach we shall examine the expression patterns of clock genes in the bee brain both temporally and spatially under different environmental conditions and generate clock mutants to determine their effects on these complex behaviours.

See the website for further details: https://cinchron.org/