Title
Connecting the navigational clock to sun compass input in monarch butterfly brain
Academic Program
Neuroscience
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Neurobiology; Reppert Lab; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Program
Publication Date
2005-05-11
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Abstract
Migratory monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) use a time-compensated sun compass to navigate to their overwintering grounds in Mexico. Although polarized light is one of the celestial cues used for orientation, the spectral content (color) of that light has not been fully explored. We cloned the cDNAs of three visual pigment-encoding opsins (ultraviolet [UV], blue, and long wavelength) and found that all three are expressed uniformly in main retina. The photoreceptors of the polarization-specialized dorsal rim area, on the other hand, are monochromatic for the UV opsin. Behavioral studies support the importance of polarized UV light for flight orientation. Next, we used clock protein expression patterns to identify the location of a circadian clock in the dorsolateral protocerebrum of butterfly brain. To provide a link between the clock and the sun compass, we identified a CRYPTOCHROME-staining neural pathway that likely connects the circadian clock to polarized light input entering brain.
DOI of Published Version
10.1016/j.neuron.2005.03.014
Source
Neuron. 2005 May 5;46(3):457-67. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Neuron
Related Resources
PubMed ID
15882645
Repository Citation
Sauman I, Briscoe AD, Zhu H, Shi D, Froy O, Stalleicken J, Yuan Q, Casselman AL, Reppert SM. (2005). Connecting the navigational clock to sun compass input in monarch butterfly brain. GSBS Student Publications. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2005.03.014. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsbs_sp/1732