Nectar neurotransmitters and beyond...
Anne Leonard
Like all of them apparently, it’s been a pretty busy year! We have some updates on projects long-term and new, exploring the (possible) function of neuroactive chemicals in floral nectar out.
First, our longstanding work on octopamine in nectar is out in two places:
Co-first-authors Felicity Muth and Casey Philbin, as well as collaborator Chris Jeffrey, in iScience. We surveyed floral nectars for biogenic amines, and found some neat ones! We then explored their effects, alone and in combination with caffeine on bee behavior.
From the bee POV, we realized while doing these experiments that we lacked much data on how consumption of octopamine affected bumble bee behavior, since so much has been done in honey bees. This elicited a second paper where, building off of former undergrad Emily Breslow’s Honors Thesis, we did a mini-review of the literature and report effects on Bombus.
In progress, PI Leonard attended the 2023 Gordon Research Conference on Plant-Herbivore Interactions and gave a talk sharing some new data on other NTs common in nectar. Lots of new ideas here, in work being helmed by PhD student Jess Buelow. Stay tuned for likely talks later this summer!