Mutual communication between optic lobes and constant light affect developing circadian system in the cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus

Abstract

1. 1. Constant lighting conditions and mutual communication between bilaterally paired optic lobes during post-embryonic development were found to affect adult circadian rhythms in the cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus. 2. 2. The average free-running period (i) of adult locomotor activity of animals that had been kept in constant light (LL) after unilateral removal of the optic lobe-compound eye complex at 7th instar stage (SIP animals) was significantly longer than that of animals treated in the same way after blinding the remaining pacemaker by removal of the compound eye (SBP animals). 3. 3. In animals that had been kept in LL after unilateral compound eye removal at 7th instar and that were subsequently subjected to removal of the optic lobe on either side as adults, average T and the ratios of active phase and inactive phase were intermediate between those of SIP and SBP animals. 4. 4. The results suggest that the circadian parameters of the developing pacemaker are affected by the mutual communication between the optic lobes as well as by the external lighting condition.