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

Amdam, Gro V.; Norberg, Kari; Page, Robert E.; Erber, Joachim; Scheiner, Ricarda

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2006.01.006

Cited by 129 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Vg knockdown in fat body was expected as successful Vg RNAi is routinely achieved in this tissue (Amdam et al, 2003b;Guidugli et al, 2005;Amdam et al, 2006;Nelson et al, 2007;Nunes and Simões, 2009;Ihle et al, 2010). However, to our knowledge, this is the first detection of a concomitant reduction in the head.…”

Section: Vg Mrna Levels Decrease In Brain In Parallel With Its Knockdmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…All steps and reagents for the synthesis of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), the molecules that trigger RNAi, were based on a wellestablished protocol as previously described (see Amdam et al, 2006). We synthesized dsRNA for Vg knockdown (dsRNA-Vg) and for green fluorescent protein (dsRNA-GFP) as the sham control.…”

Section: Double-stranded Rna Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the colony level, there are many known factors that influence when an individual worker begins to forage and what she collects as a forager. These factors include cues and signals from larvae, the queen, other workers and levels of stored food (Pankiw et al, 1998;Dreller and Tarpy, 2000;Amdam et al, 2006). The effects these cues have on individual behavior are mediated by genotype, nutrient stores and other internal factors (Page and Fondrk, 1995;Pankiw and Page, 2001;Toth et al, 2005).…”

Section: Microrna Target Prediction In Genes Associated With Foragingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The gene vitellogenin affects microRNA regulation in honey bee (Apis mellifera) fat body and brain

Nunes

Ihle

Mutti

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYIn honey bees, vitellogenin (Vg) is hypothesized to be a major factor affecting hormone signaling, food-related behavior, immunity, stress resistance and lifespan. MicroRNAs, which play important roles in post-transcriptional gene regulation, likewise affect many biological processes. The actions of microRNAs and Vg are known to intersect in the context of reproduction; however, the role of these associations on social behavior is unknown. The phenotypic effects of Vg knockdown are best established and studied in the forager stage of workers. Thus, we exploited the well-established RNA interference (RNAi) protocol for Vg knockdown to investigate its downstream effects on microRNA population in honey bee foragers' brain and fat body tissue. To identify microRNAs that are differentially expressed between tissues in control and knockdown foragers, we used μParaflo microfluidic oligonucleotide microRNA microarrays. Our results showed that 76 and 74 microRNAs were expressed in the brain of control and knockdown foragers whereas 66 and 69 microRNAs were expressed in the fat body of control and knockdown foragers, respectively. Target prediction identified potential seed matches for a differentially expressed subset of microRNAs affected by Vg knockdown. These candidate genes are involved in a broad range of biological processes including insulin signaling, juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysteroid signaling previously shown to affect foraging behavior. Thus, here we demonstrate a causal link between the Vg knockdown forager phenotype and variation in the abundance of microRNAs in different tissues, with possible consequences for the regulation of foraging behavior. Supplementary material available online at

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Section: Vg Mrna Levels Decrease In Brain In Parallel With Its Knockdmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Double-stranded Rna Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Microrna Target Prediction In Genes Associated With Foragingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The gene vitellogenin affects microRNA regulation in honey bee (Apis mellifera) fat body and brain

Nunes

Ihle

Mutti

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Vg is in a feedback loop with JH, regulating worker division of labor (Amdam and Omholt, 2003;Amdam et al, 2004Amdam et al, , 2006a: nurse bees have a high level of Vg and a low level of JH in the hemolymph, and then Vg rapidly reduces and JH rises, which initiates worker foraging. Vg knockdown amplifies JH titer (Nelson et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2012a,b), resulting in an increase in glucose responsiveness (Amdam et al, 2006b;Wang et al, 2012a), early onset of foraging and a foraging bias for nectar (Nelson et al, 2007). Topical application of a JH analog, methoprene, to young workers increases sucrose responsiveness (Pankiw and Page, 2003), and JH paces behavioral development in workers, as is evident by its ability to induce an earlier onset of foraging (Jaycox et al, 1974;Jaycox, 1976;Fahrbach and Robinson, 1996;Sullivan et al, 2000Sullivan et al, , 2003Chang et al, 2015).…”

Section: Long-term Effect Of Larval Starvation On Worker Behavioral Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starvation stress during larval development facilitates an adaptive response in adult worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)

Wang

Kaftanoğlu

Brent

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Most organisms are constantly faced with environmental changes and stressors. In diverse organisms, there is an anticipatory mechanism during development that can program adult phenotypes. The adult phenotype would be adapted to the predicted environment that occurred during organism maturation. However, whether this anticipatory mechanism is present in eusocial species is questionable because eusocial organisms are largely shielded from exogenous conditions by their stable nest environment. In this study, we tested whether food deprivation during development of the honey bee (Apis mellifera), a eusocial insect model, can shift adult phenotypes to better cope with nutritional stress. After subjecting fifth instar worker larvae to short-term starvation, we measured nutrition-related morphology, starvation resistance, physiology, endocrinology and behavior in the adults. We found that the larval starvation caused adult honey bees to become more resilient toward starvation. Moreover, the adult bees were characterized by reduced ovary size, elevated glycogen stores and juvenile hormone (JH) titers, and decreased sugar sensitivity. These changes, in general, can help adult insects survive and reproduce in food-poor environments. Overall, we found for the first time support for an anticipatory mechanism in a eusocial species, the honey bee. Our results suggest that this mechanism may play a role in honey bee queen-worker differentiation and worker division of labor, both of which are related to the responses to nutritional stress.

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“…Haemolymph sugar levels do not only need to be regulated, they also provide important information on the physiological state of carbohydrate metabolism, which is associated with gustatory sucrose responsiveness (Amdam et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2012). In general, the glucose titre in honey bee haemolymph is below 20 µg/µl and the trehalose titer is below 30 µg/µl (Wang et al, 2012).…”

Section: Measurement Of Glucose and Trehalose In Honey Bee Haemolymphmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standard methods for physiology and biochemistry research inApis mellifera

Hartfelder

Bitondi

Brent

et al. 2013

Journal of Apicultural Research

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SummaryDespite their tremendous economic importance, and apart from certain topics in the field of neurophysiology such as vision, olfaction, learning and memory, honey bees are not a typical model system for studying general questions of insect physiology. The reason is their social lifestyle, which sets them apart from a "typical insect" and, during social evolution, has resulted in the restructuring of certain physiological pathways and biochemical characteristics in this insect. Not surprisingly, the questions that have attracted most attention by researchers working on honey bee physiology and biochemistry in general are core topics specifically related to social organization, such as caste development, reproductive division of labour and polyethism within the worker caste. With certain proteins playing key roles in these processes, such as the major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs), including royalactin and hexamerins in caste development, and vitellogenin in reproductive division of labour and age polyethism, a major section herein will present and discuss basic laboratory protocols for protein analyses established and standardized to address such questions in bees. A second major topic concerns endocrine mechanisms underlying processes of queen and worker development, as well as reproduction and polyethism, especially the roles of juvenile hormone and ecdysteroids. Sensitive techniques for the quantification of juvenile hormone levels circulating in haemolymph, as well as its synthesis by the corpora allata are described. Although these require certain instrumentation and a considerable degree of sophistication in the analysis procedures, we considered that presenting these techniques would be of interest to laboratories planning to specialize in such analyses. Since biogenic amines are both neurotransmitters and regulators of endocrine glands, we also present a standard method for the detection and analysis of certain biogenic amines of interest. Further questions that cross borders between individual and social physiology are related to energy metabolism and thermoregulation. Thus a further three sections are dedicated to protocols on carbohydrate quantification in body fluid, body temperature measurement and respirometry. Métodos estándar para la investigación de la fisiología y bioquímica de Apis mellifera ResumenA pesar de su enorme importancia económica, y aparte de ciertos temas en el campo de la neurofisiología, tales como la visión, el olfato, el aprendizaje y la memoria, las abejas no son un sistema modelo típico para el estudio de cuestiones generales sobre la fisiología de los insectos. La razón de ello es su forma de vida social, lo que las diferencia de un "insecto típico" y que durante la evolución social, se ha traducido en la reestructuración de ciertas vías fisiológicas y bioquímicas propias de este insecto. Como era de esperar, las preguntas que han atraído mayor atención por parte de los investigadores que trabajan en la fisiología y la bioquímica de la abeja melífera, son en general tema...

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

Cited by 129 publications

References 34 publications

The gene vitellogenin affects microRNA regulation in honey bee (Apis mellifera) fat body and brain

The gene vitellogenin affects microRNA regulation in honey bee (Apis mellifera) fat body and brain

Starvation stress during larval development facilitates an adaptive response in adult worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)

Standard methods for physiology and biochemistry research inApis mellifera

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