Towards an all-optical optogenetic activation and readout system for insect brains

We present first steps to add optogenetics to our experimental two-photon imaging platform. The efforts are aiming at applying this technique first to the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and subsequently to the honeybee Apis mellifera at the level of the primary olfactory processing brain centers, the antennal lobes. Optical activation of single network nodes addressable via an additional scannable laser source, will allow modulating neuronal activity with high selectivity and precision both in the temporal and spatial domain. The propagation of this activation within the neuronal network will then be studied via two-photon microscopy. Here we present data on first tests of opsins, the development of a viral vector delivery system in honeybee, the optical setup, and the all-optical activation and read-out protocol.