Honeybee Hr38 Target gene. Apis mellifera ligustica

Hr38 is a transcription factor that expresses in response to neural activity. Hr38 is highly conserved gene among insects. Pharmacological activation of Hr38 facilitates the long term memory formation in the honeybee. These results indicate that Hr38 has important roles in higher brain function in honeybee brains. However, there is no information on how Hr38 and its ligand exert their effect by regulating downstream genes in the brain. In the present study, we aim to identfy genes regulated by Hr38 and conduct RNA-Seq experiments. The goal of this study is to elucidate the molecular and neural mechanisms of higher brain function, especially the learning and memory.