Examining the effects of arachnid toxins on insect learning and memory

Acetylcholine receptor (AChR) is a common target of many commercial insecticides and widely distributed in the insect central nervous system (CNS) – brain regions related to sensory and cognitive process. AChRs are therefore related to the learning and memory in insects and insecticides can cause unwanted side-effects by disruption of these processes.

In recent years, several spider hexatoxins (HXTX in short, renamed from atracotoxins) were shown to exhibit activity on nicotinic AChRs, including κ-HXTX-Hv1c, ω-HXTX-Hv1a and ω/κ-HTXT-Hv1h. At this stage, it remains unclear whether these toxins are also involved in the modulation of learning and memory processes in insects.

To improve our understanding of potential interactions of these insecticidal toxins with molecular targets involved in learning and memory, we aim to establish an insect conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm as a model of motivational learning. In addition, we also plan to establish a conditioned place aversion (CPA) paradigm using the same experimental setup, which will enable us to study defensive properties of venom components.