Behavioral Changes in Worker Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Induced by Injections of a Juvenile Hormone Mimic1

Jaycox, Elbert R.; Skowronek, W.; Guynn, Godfrey

doi:10.1093/aesa/67.4.529

Cited by 139 publications

(94 citation statements)

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“…In addition to the evidence cited earlier linking JH to nutrition and metabolism, the stimulatory effects of JH on behavioral maturation are well documented (Jaycox et al, 1974;Robinson, 1987;Sullivan et al, 2000), as are its antagonistic relationships with Vg (Guidugli et al, 2005;Pinto et al, 2000;Rutz and Luscher, 1974) and QMP (Grozinger and Robinson, 2007;Kaatz et al, 1992). These results provide further evidence of a role for endocrine signaling as a shared mechanism that mediates the effects of diet, Vg and QMP on lipid storage even though these three factors also have distinct effects on gene expression.…”

Section: Shared and Unique Transcriptomic Responses To Diet Vg And Qmpsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…Several conserved, nutritionally and metabolically related signaling pathways have been implicated in honey bee behavioral maturation (Ament et al, 2010), including insulin and target of rapamycin (TOR) (Ament et al, 2008), cGMP-dependent protein kinase (Ben-Shahar et al, 2002) and juvenile hormone (JH) (Jaycox et al, 1974;Robinson, 1987;Sullivan et al, 2000). These pathways might therefore also regulate stable lipid loss.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanisms of stable lipid loss in a social insect

Ament

Chan

Wheeler

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

101

147

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SUMMARYWorker honey bees undergo a socially regulated, highly stable lipid loss as part of their behavioral maturation. We used largescale transcriptomic and proteomic experiments, physiological experiments and RNA interference to explore the mechanistic basis for this lipid loss. Lipid loss was associated with thousands of gene expression changes in abdominal fat bodies. Many of these genes were also regulated in young bees by nutrition during an initial period of lipid gain. Surprisingly, in older bees, which is when maximum lipid loss occurs, diet played less of a role in regulating fat body gene expression for components of evolutionarily conserved nutrition-related endocrine systems involving insulin and juvenile hormone signaling. By contrast, fat body gene expression in older bees was regulated more strongly by evolutionarily novel regulatory factors, queen mandibular pheromone (a honey bee-specific social signal) and vitellogenin (a conserved yolk protein that has evolved novel, maturationrelated functions in the bee), independent of nutrition. These results demonstrate that conserved molecular pathways can be manipulated to achieve stable lipid loss through evolutionarily novel regulatory processes. Supplementary material available online at

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Section: Shared and Unique Transcriptomic Responses To Diet Vg And Qmpsupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of stable lipid loss in a social insect

Ament

Chan

Wheeler

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

101

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The brain-structure of foragers is unique (Fahrbach et al, 1995), and foragers eat less pollen (Jaycox et al, 1974) and store less nutrients in their blood and tissues compared to other bees (Engels and Fahrenhorst, 1974). Individuals that produce jelly are also physiologically specialized, and they are the only colony members that are able to digest pollen well (pollen is the sole source of amino acids for the production of jelly): workers can become nurse bees as 3-5-day-olds when the level of digestive endopeptidases in their guts is high enough to efficiently process ingested pollen (Crailsheim, 1988).…”

Section: Patterns Of Age-and Stage-dependent Food Transfersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational transfers may have decoupled physiological and chronological age in a eusocial insect

Amdam

Page

2005

Ageing Research Reviews

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Life-history theory generally predicts that there should be no selection for longevity beyond the limit of reproductive capacity. However, the capacity to increase fitness may not end when individuals reach a state of functional sterility. Recent studies show that intergenerational transfers of resources from post-reproductive parents can increase the offspring's fitness, and analytical theory shows that age-trajectories of transfers may shape the course of senescence in social organisms. In eusocial insects, female roles are partitioned so that one phenotype or "caste" reproduces while another is responsible for resource transfers: the reproductive "queens" are arrested in a continuous reproductive mode, while transfer-activities such as hygienic behaviors, guarding, foraging and further food processing ("nursing") that increases the nutritional value of provisions are conducted by sterile "workers". Worker honey bees normally perform these tasks in a sequence so that nursing inside the protected nest is conducted prior to more risky exterior hive activities such as guarding and foraging. However, foragers may revert to nurse-activity in response to demographic changes, and worker bees can also develop into a stress resistant survival form with a 10-fold increase in lifespan. This elastic division of parental functions is believed to increase colony fitness. Further, it generates a stage-dependent trajectory of senescence that is difficult to address with established theories of aging. In the following, we show how a recent theory that includes resource transfers can be used to elucidate patterns of senescence in eusocial, non-reproducing individuals like the honey bee worker.

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“…At the physiological level, changes at the onset of foraging include an increase in the juvenile hormone (JH) titer [4], and a decrease in the hemolymph vitellogenin level [5]. JH is produced by the corpora allata complex by the suboesophageal ganglia, and is part of the hormonal control machinery of oogenesis in solitary insects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Downregulation of vitellogenin gene activity increases the gustatory responsiveness of honey bee workers (Apis mellifera)

Amdam

Norberg

Page

et al. 2006

Behavioural Brain Research

129

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In the honey bee (Apis mellifera), young workers usually perform tasks in the nest while older workers forage in the field. The behavioral shift from nest-task to foraging activity is accompanied by physiological and sensory changes so that foragers can be characterized by a higher juvenile hormone (JH) level, a lower vitellogenin protein titer, and an increased responsiveness to water and sucrose stimuli. JH was hypothesized to be the key mediator of behavioral development, physiology, and sensory sensitivity in honey bee workers. Recent research, however, has shown that JH is controlled by the hemolymph vitellogenin level, which implies that the fat body specific vitellogenin gene can be a key regulator of behavioral change. Here, we show that downregulation of vitellogenin activity by RNA interference (RNAi) causes an increase in the gustatory responsiveness of worker bees. Our observations suggest that vitellogenin is an important regulator of long-term changes in honey bee behavior.

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Behavioral Changes in Worker Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Induced by Injections of a Juvenile Hormone Mimic1

Cited by 139 publications

References 0 publications

Mechanisms of stable lipid loss in a social insect

Mechanisms of stable lipid loss in a social insect

Intergenerational transfers may have decoupled physiological and chronological age in a eusocial insect

Downregulation of vitellogenin gene activity increases the gustatory responsiveness of honey bee workers (Apis mellifera)

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