Dufour's gland secretion of the queen honeybee ( Apis mellifera ): an egg discriminator pheromone or a queen signal?

Katzav-Gozansky, Tamar; Soroker, Victoria; Ibarra, Fernando; Francke, Wittko; Hefetz, Abraham

doi:10.1007/s002650100406

Cited by 71 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In the honey bee A. mellifera, worker policing of eggs occurs as well (52); this has led to a number of studies of the compounds found on queenand worker-laid eggs and the compounds present in the queen's Dufour's gland (53) and in egg-laying workers (54)(55)(56), which appear to mimic queen specific profiles. Although there is experimental evidence that the egg identification cue originates from Dufour's gland secretions (57), behavioral experiments have failed so far to show which of the many compounds are active (58)(59)(60), and it appears that in this case hydrocarbons are not involved (58).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface hydrocarbons of queen eggs regulate worker reproduction in a social insect

Endler

Liebig

Schmitt

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

258

219

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A hitherto largely unresolved problem in behavioral biology is how workers are prevented from reproducing in large insect societies with high relatedness. Signals of the queen are assumed to inform the nestmates about her presence in the colony, which leads to indirect fitness benefits for workers. In the ant Camponotus floridanus, we found such a signal located on queen-laid eggs. In groups of workers that were regularly provided with queen-laid eggs, larvae, and cocoons, with larvae and cocoons alone, or with no brood, only in the groups with queen-laid eggs did workers not lay eggs. Thus, the eggs seem to inform the nestmates about the queen's presence, which induces workers to refrain from reproducing. The signal on queen-laid eggs is presumably the same that enables workers to distinguish between queen-and worker-laid eggs. Despite their viability, the latter are destroyed by workers when given a choice between both types. Queen-and worker-laid eggs differ in their surface hydrocarbons in a way similar to the way fertile queens differ from workers in the composition of their cuticular hydrocarbons. When we transferred hydrocarbons from the queen cuticle to worker-laid eggs, the destruction of those eggs was significantly mitigated. We conclude that queen-derived hydrocarbon labels inform workers about the presence of a fertile queen and thereby regulate worker reproduction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface hydrocarbons of queen eggs regulate worker reproduction in a social insect

Endler

Liebig

Schmitt

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

258

219

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A. mellifera. In three races of Apis mellifera, A. mellifera mellifera, A. mellifera ligustica and A. mellifera scutellata, it has been shown that worker-laid eggs from queenless nests are preferentially removed when introduced into queenright colonies (A. m. m., A. m. ligustica or hybrid: Ratnieks and Visscher 1989;Ratnieks 1995;Visscher 1996;Katzav-Gozansky et al 2001;Miller and Ratnieks 2001;Martin et al 2002bMartin et al , 2005Halling and Oldroyd 2003;Beekman et al 2004;Beekman and Oldroyd 2005;A. m. scutellata: Beekman et al 2002;Martin et al 2002a;Neumann et al 2003;Pirk et al 2003).…”

Section: Note Added In Proofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Analysis of Worker Reproduction and Policing in Eusocial Hymenoptera Supports Relatedness Theory

Wenseleers¹,

Ratnieks²

2006

The American Naturalist

207

279

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In many bees, wasps, and ants, workers police each other in order to prevent individual workers from selfishly producing their own male offspring. Although several factors can selectively favor worker policing, genetic relatedness is considered to be of special importance. In particular, kin selection theory predicts that worker policing should be more common in species where workers are more related to the queen's sons than to other workers' sons. Here we provide strong novel support for this theory based on a comparative analysis of policing and male parentage in 109 species of ants, bees, and wasps. First, an analysis of behavioral data confirms that worker policing occurs more frequently in species where workers are more related to the queen's sons than to other workers' sons. Second, an analysis of male parentage shows that a significantly higher percentage of the males are workers' sons in species where the workers are more related to other workers' sons. Both conclusions also hold if data are analyzed using phylogenetically independent contrasts. Although our analysis provides strong overall support for the theory that relatedness affects kin conflict over male parentage, there is also significant residual variation. Several factors that may explain this variation are discussed.Keywords: worker policing, queen policing, worker reproduction, social Hymenoptera, inclusive fitness, kin selection.A major challenge in evolutionary biology is to explain how social groups can reduce or prevent costly conflicts

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“…Numerous nurse bees inspect the nest daily by inserting their head and thorax into brood cells, and if they determine that an egg is of worker origin, they eat it. Workers probably establish the source of an egg on the basis of substances that are deposited on the egg's surface when it is laid (Katzav-Gozansky et al, 2001). The queen's eggs have a more complex hydrocarbon coating than worker-laid eggs, and acetates of fatty alcohols, alkenes, and monomethylalkanes are characteristic to eggs that are laid by a queen (Katzav-Gozansky et al, 2003).…”

Section: Killing Of Developing Brood-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Order, Disorder, Death: Lessons from a Superorganism

Amdam¹,

Seehuus²

2006

Advances in Cancer Research

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Animal models contribute to the understanding of molecular mechanism of cancer, revealing complex roles of altered cellular-signaling networks and deficient surveillance systems. Analogous pathologies are documented in an unconventional model organism that receives attention in research on systems theory, evolution, and aging. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) colony is an advanced integrative unit, a "superorganism" in which order is controlled via complex signaling cascades and surveillance schemes. A facultatively sterile caste, the workers, regulates patterns of growth, differentiation, homeostasis, and death. Workers differentiate into temporal phenotypes in response to dynamic social cues; chemosensory signals that can translate into dramatic physiological responses, including programmed cell death. Temporal worker forms function together, and effectively identify and terminate abnormal colony members ranging from embryos to adults. As long as this regulatory system is operational at a colony level, the unit survives and propagates. However, if the worker phenotypes that collectively govern order become too few or change into malignant forms that bypass control mechanisms to replicate aberrantly; order is replaced by disorder that ultimately leads to the destruction of the society. In this chapter we describe fundamental properties of honeybee social organization, and explore conditions that lead to states of disorder. Our hope is that this chapter will be an inspirational source for ongoing and future work in the field of cancer research.

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Dufour's gland secretion of the queen honeybee ( Apis mellifera ): an egg discriminator pheromone or a queen signal?

Cited by 71 publications

References 36 publications

Surface hydrocarbons of queen eggs regulate worker reproduction in a social insect

Surface hydrocarbons of queen eggs regulate worker reproduction in a social insect

Comparative Analysis of Worker Reproduction and Policing in Eusocial Hymenoptera Supports Relatedness Theory

Order, Disorder, Death: Lessons from a Superorganism

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