Using nano-tomography to understand polarisation vision in insects

Many insects rely heavily on polarisation vision navigate through their world but we understand little about the features of their visual systems that underlie this behaviour, partly due to the lack of methods for resolving photoreceptor structures in 3D. The aim of this project is to take advantage of the recently developed nano-tomography technique, well established at ESRF, to create high resolution 3D models of the fine structures of insect eyes. With this beamtime we will describe, for the first time, the 3D structure and orientation of the dorsal rim area (DRA) which is part of the eye used primarily for navigation by sensing polarized light. The work will provide the first nanoscale 3D reconstructions of insect eyes and provide new insights into how this important compass cue is sensed by insects. If successful, our results will also lead to the first publications using nano-tomography to describe the fine detail of animal eyes.