ASU SEMINAR: Monarch Butterfly Migration: From Behavior to Neurons to Genes. NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CAZBA ORGANIZED EVENT!
location:
Friday, January 16, 2015
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Place: Life Sciences Building, E Wing, Room 104
Title: Monarch Butterfly Migration: From Behavior to Neurons to Genes
Speaker: Dr. Steven M. Reppert, Department of Neurobiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Summary: Studies of the eye-popping migration of the eastern North American monarch butterfly have revealed mechanisms behind its orientation using a time-compensated sun compass. Skylight cues, such as the sun itself and polarized light, are processed through both eyes and integrated through complex circuitry in the brain’s central complex, the presumed site of the sun compass. Circadian clocks that reside in the antennae and have a distinct molecular mechanism provide time compensation. Recent evidence suggests that migrating monarchs can also use a magnetic compass for orientation in the absence of skylight cues. Genomic and genetic strategies have been developed to manipulate the monarch genome to access the genetic underpinning and evolutionary history of the migration. The monarch butterfly has emerged as a tractable system to study the neural and molecular basis of long-distance animal migration.
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