The microRNA miR-14 Regulates Egg-Laying by Targeting EcR in Honeybees (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are important pollinators and are commonly used for honey production. The oviposition behavior in honeybees is complex and errors in oviposition could affect the development of the bee colony. Recent studies reported that RNA–RNA cross-talk played a critical role in several biological processes, including reproduction. Ecdysone receptor (EcR) and miR-14 were previously reported to play important roles in egg-laying. Moreover, EcR was predicted to be the target gene of miR-14 and may form miR-14-EcR cross-talk. In this study, knocking down and overexpression of miR-14 and EcR in queen model were implemented. The effect of RNA expression of miR-14 and EcR on the number of eggs laid by honeybee queens were analyzed. Further, luciferase assay was used to confirm the target relation between miR-14 and 3′UTR of EcR. The results showed that the expression of miR-14 and EcR was associated with the number of eggs laid by queens. In specific, inhibition of miR-14 expression enhanced the number of eggs laid, while overexpression of EcR enhanced the number of eggs laid. Lastly, we determined that miR-14 directly targets the mRNA of EcR. These findings suggest that the cross-talk of miR-14-EcR plays an important role in the number of eggs laid by honeybee queens.

Interaction analysis of hemolymph extracellular vesicles miRNA and hemocytes mRNA reveals genes and pathways associated with molting in Scylla paramamosain

“…We discovered that the miR-34 and miR-14 in the EVs might modulate the Eip74EF and EcR respectively during the various molt stages. Previous studies have shown that miR-14 directly targets the mRNA of EcR (Chen and Fu, 2021). miR-34 is highly conserved in insects and has been shown to interact with the 3' UTR of the Eip74EF mRNA through the predicted binding sites.…”

MicroRNAs miR‐14 and miR‐2766 regulate tyrosine hydroxylase to control larval–pupal metamorphosis in Helicoverpa armigera

“…In our study, the lack of DA significantly increased the concentration of JH (Figure S5A) and inhibited expression of JH esterase (Figure S5B). Moreover, some studies have shown that miR‐14 targets ecdysone receptor ( EcR ) to regulate ecdysone signaling during growth and development, affecting insect development time, such as egg laying and other processes 61–63 . In H. armigera , it has been reported that miR‐14 positively regulates the HaEcR , 64 suggesting that miR‐14 is a common regulator of ecdysone and DA.…”

Age and Behavior-Dependent Differential miRNAs Expression in the Hypopharyngeal Glands of Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

“…Among the 153 known miRNAs obtained in the present study, ame-miR-276-3p, ame-miR-375-3p, ame-miR-14-3p, ame-miR-275-3p, and ame-miR-3477-5p were the top five most abundant miRNAs that commonly existed in NB, FB, and NEB libraries ( Table 2 ). A recent study demonstrated that ame-miR-14 was enriched in the queen ovary and played an important role in regulating egg-laying via modulating ecdysone receptor in honeybee queens [ 26 ]. The miRNA ame-mir-276 is highly expressed in the small-type Kenyon cells of the mushroom bodies and is involved with the development of related neural function in honeybees [ 40 ].…”

“…MicroRNA (miRNA) is a class of small (18–24 nt), single-strand, and endogenous ncRNA that plays important roles in the post-transcriptional regulation of target gene expression [ 16 , 17 ] related to various biological processes, such as tissue development [ 18 ]. Previous studies on honeybee miRNAs revealed their key roles in mediating diverse physiological processes, such as caste differentiation [ 19 , 20 ], division of labor [ 21 , 22 ], memory formation [ 23 , 24 ], queen reproductive performance [ 25 , 26 ], immune defense [ 27 , 28 ], and embryonic and midgut development [ 29 , 30 ]. However, little is known about whether/how miRNAs regulate the HPGs development in worker bees.…”