Project description
Gut microbiota and cognitive differences in honeybees
The gut microbiota plays an important role in influencing cognitive functions, but much of the evidence comes from studies in humans and lab animals, leaving a gap in understanding how it affects non-human animals in the wild. In this context, the ERC-funded Micro-Cog project aims to bridge this gap by studying honeybees. Using reconstituted gut bacterial communities, researchers will explore how gut microbiota diversity drives cognitive variability and foraging behaviour. Honeybees, with their complex social structures, provide an ideal model for assessing the ecological relevance of the microbiota-gut-brain axis. This project will offer groundbreaking insights into cognitive ecology, neuroscience and honeybee health, revealing how gut bacteria affect cognitive abilities and ecological adaptation.
Objective
The animal gut microbiota is diverse, hosting multiple bacterial species whose presence and abundance differ between individuals. Over the past decade, evidence that the gut microbiota influences its host cognitive functions has accumulated but mostly relied on correlative studies in humans and laboratory research involving microbiota-free rodents. It is therefore unclear whether inter-individual variation in gut microbiota composition supports cognitive variability in natural populations of non-human animals. This project will leverage the honey bee model to bring ecological perspectives on the study of the microbiota-gut-brain axis while elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms by which gut microbiota diversity drives cognitive variability. Honey bees offer a unique opportunity to finely manipulate gut microbiota composition using reconstituted gut bacterial communities. Their social life fosters cognitive variability among individuals and provides an ideal system for assessing the ecological relevance of the microbiota-gut-brain axis in a real-world context. The keystone of our naturalistic approach will be the implementation of mini hives allowing honey bees with reconstituted gut bacterial communities to forage in their natural environment. We will search for bacterial species and their metabolic products affecting the neural processes supporting cognitive functions and foraging efficiency. We will investigate the impact of gut microbiota composition and its associated cognitive variability on bees foraging behaviour and the fitness of the hive. This multidisciplinary project will provide groundbreaking insights into the fields of cognitive ecology, neuroscience, gut microbiology, host-microbe symbiosis, and honey bee health. Through this holistic approach, I aim to provide fresh perspectives on the interplay between gut bacteria, cognitive abilities, and ecological adaptation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiologycognitive neuroscience
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiological behavioural sciencesethologybiological interactions
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomology
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
75794 Paris
France