| 研究実績の概要 |
Given the relatively short amount of time in the first fiscal year covered by the grant, most of the effort has been dedicated to planning and establishing regulatory and conceptual infrastructures for its execution in both Japan and in Australia. Since the start of the grant, I finalized the research agreement between the Australian National University and OIST, which will allow me to conduct this project under the auspices of ANU. I have also established contacts with Australian beekeepers and researchers, allowing me to start the experiments in the early Australian summer. We have continued to work on developing the bee tracking algorithms underlying this research, focusing in improving accuracy in the estimation of bee position and orientation. We have also been experimenting with methods to mark honey bees, and have set up a facility for micro-injection, which will be necessary for gene knockdown in subsequent studies. We will most likely conduct the first study on the honey bee homolog of the doublesex gene, and may control caste differentiation and pheromone production in this species, acting as a major gene involved in social organization, though other genes are presently under consideration. The actual choice of genes and specific experimental approaches will be determined by experiments to take place in early FY 2017.
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| 今後の研究の推進方策 |
As this project derives from the Young Scientists A grant, I am also going to take advantage of the extended field season offered by working in both the northern and southern hemispheres, and create duplicate crosses for that grant. The first order of business will be to set up observation hives and data acquisition systems at ANU (planned in June-August), followed by experimental observations shortly thereafter.
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