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Wang K, Zheng M, Cai M, Zhang Y, Fan Y, Lin Z, Wang Z, Niu Q, Ji T. Possible interactions between gut microbiome and division of labor in honey bees. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11707. [PMID: 39193168 PMCID: PMC11348130 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2024] [Revised: 06/19/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have provided new insights into the role of the microbiome in shaping host behavior. However, the relationship between the temporal division of labor among honey bees (Apis mellifera) and their gut microbial community has not been widely studied. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the link between the gut microbiome and division of labor in honey bees by examining the microbial absolute abundance and relative composition of 7-day-old nurse bees and 28-day-old forager bees from a natural hive, as well as those of worker bees of the same 14-day-old age showing different behaviors in a manipulated hive. We found that forager bees had fewer core bacteria, particularly gram-positive fermentative genera such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, with Bifidobacterium asteroides being the most sensitive to host behavioral tasks. Our results showed that forager bees have lower gut community stability compared to nurse bees, suggesting that their gut community is more susceptible to invasion by non-core members. Furthermore, a pollen limitation experiment using caged honey bees indicated that dietary changes during behavioral shifts may be a driving factor in honey bee microbial diversity. This study contributes to a greater understanding of the interaction between the gut microbiome and behavioral tasks and provides a foundation for future assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kang Wang
- College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhou UniversityYangzhouChina
| | - Ming Zheng
- College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhou UniversityYangzhouChina
| | - Minqi Cai
- College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhou UniversityYangzhouChina
| | - Yi Zhang
- College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhou UniversityYangzhouChina
| | - Yuanchan Fan
- College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhou UniversityYangzhouChina
| | - Zheguang Lin
- College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhou UniversityYangzhouChina
| | - Zhi Wang
- Key Laboratory for bee Genetics and BreedingJilin Provincial Institute of Apicultural SciencesJilinChina
| | - Qingsheng Niu
- Key Laboratory for bee Genetics and BreedingJilin Provincial Institute of Apicultural SciencesJilinChina
| | - Ting Ji
- College of Animal Science and TechnologyYangzhou UniversityYangzhouChina
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2
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Peng T, Kennedy A, Wu Y, Foitzik S, Grüter C. Early life exposure to queen mandibular pheromone mediates persistent transcriptional changes in the brain of honey bee foragers. J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb247516. [PMID: 38725404 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.247516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 04/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/25/2024]
Abstract
Behavioural regulation in insect societies remains a fundamental question in sociobiology. In hymenopteran societies, the queen plays a crucial role in regulating group behaviour by affecting individual behaviour and physiology through modulation of worker gene expression. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens signal their presence via queen mandibular pheromone (QMP). While QMP has been shown to influence behaviour and gene expression of young workers, we know little about how these changes translate in older workers. The effects of the queen pheromone could have prolonged molecular impacts on workers that depend on an early sensitive period. We demonstrate that removal of QMP impacts long-term gene expression in the brain and antennae in foragers that were treated early in life (1 day post emergence), but not when treated later in life. Genes important for division of labour, learning, chemosensory perception and ageing were among those differentially expressed in the antennae and brain tissues, suggesting that QMP influences diverse physiological and behavioural processes in workers. Surprisingly, removal of QMP did not have an impact on foraging behaviour. Overall, our study suggests a sensitive period early in the life of workers, where the presence or absence of a queen has potentially life-long effects on transcriptional activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tianfei Peng
- Institute of Molecular and Organismic Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Biozentrum I, Hanns Dieter Hüsch Weg 15, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- College of Plant Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, PR China
| | - Anissa Kennedy
- Institute of Molecular and Organismic Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Biozentrum I, Hanns Dieter Hüsch Weg 15, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Yongqiang Wu
- Institute of Molecular and Organismic Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Biozentrum I, Hanns Dieter Hüsch Weg 15, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Institute of Molecular and Organismic Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Biozentrum I, Hanns Dieter Hüsch Weg 15, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Christoph Grüter
- Institute of Molecular and Organismic Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Biozentrum I, Hanns Dieter Hüsch Weg 15, 55128 Mainz, Germany
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3
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Liu B, Xu Y, Zhang W. Transcriptome analysis of Apis mellifera antennae reveals molecular divergence underlying the division of labour in worker bees. INSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2024; 33:101-111. [PMID: 37864451 DOI: 10.1111/imb.12882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/22/2023]
Abstract
The olfactory system plays a fundamental role in mediating insect behaviour. Worker bees exhibit an age-dependent division of labour, performing discrete sets of behaviours throughout their lifespan. The behavioural states of bees rely on their sense of the environment and chemical communication via their olfactory system, the antennae. However, the olfactory adaptation mechanism of worker bees during their behavioural development remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of antennal gene expression in the Apis mellifera of newly emerged workers, nurses, foragers and defenders using RNA-seq. We found that the antenna tissues of honey bees continued developing after transformation from newly emerged workers to adults. Additionally, we identified differentially expressed genes associated with bee development and division of labour. We validated that major royal jelly protein genes are highly and specifically expressed in nurse honey bee workers. Furthermore, we identified and validated significant alternative splicing events correlated with the development and division of labour. These findings provide a comprehensive transcriptome profile and a new perspective on the molecular mechanisms that may underlie the worker honey bee division of labour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bairu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yicong Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Weixing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
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4
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Castaños CE, Boyce MC, Bates T, Millar AH, Flematti G, Lawler NG, Grassl J. Lipidomic features of honey bee and colony health during limited supplementary feeding. INSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2023; 32:658-675. [PMID: 37477164 DOI: 10.1111/imb.12864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/22/2023]
Abstract
Honey bee nutritional health depends on nectar and pollen, which provide the main source of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids to individual bees. During malnutrition, insect metabolism accesses fat body reserves. However, this process in bees and its repercussions at the colony level are poorly understood. Using untargeted lipidomics and gene expression analysis, we examined the effects of different feeding treatments (starvation, sugar feeding and sugar + pollen feeding) on bees and correlated them with colony health indicators. We found that nutritional stress led to an increase in unsaturated triacylglycerols and diacylglycerols, as well as a decrease in free fatty acids in the bee fat body. Here, we hypothesise that stored lipids are made available through a process where unsaturations change lipid's structure. Increased gene expression of three lipid desaturases in response to malnutrition supports this hypothesis, as these desaturases may be involved in releasing fatty acyl chains for lipolysis. Although nutritional stress was evident in starving and sugar-fed bees at the colony and physiological level, only starved colonies presented long-term effects in honey production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara E Castaños
- Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Honey Bee Products, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Honey Bee Health Research Group, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Mary C Boyce
- School of Science, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Tiffane Bates
- Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Honey Bee Products, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Honey Bee Health Research Group, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - A Harvey Millar
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Gavin Flematti
- School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Nathan G Lawler
- School of Science, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Julia Grassl
- Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Honey Bee Products, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Honey Bee Health Research Group, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
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Anderson A, Keime N, Fong C, Kraemer A, Fassbinder-Orth C. Resilin Distribution and Abundance in Apis mellifera across Biological Age Classes and Castes. INSECTS 2023; 14:764. [PMID: 37754732 PMCID: PMC10532044 DOI: 10.3390/insects14090764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
The presence of resilin, an elastomeric protein, in insect vein joints provides the flexible, passive deformations that are crucial to flapping flight. This study investigated the resilin gene expression and autofluorescence dynamics among Apis mellifera (honey bee) worker age classes and drone honey bees. Resilin gene expression was determined via ddPCR on whole honey bees and resilin autofluorescence was measured in the 1m-cu, 2m-cu, Cu-V, and Cu2-V joints on the forewing and the Cu-V joint of the hindwing. Resilin gene expression varied significantly with age, with resilin activity being highest in the pupae. Autofluorescence of the 1m-cu and the Cu-V joints on the ventral forewing and the Cu-V joint on the ventral hindwing varied significantly between age classes on the left and right sides of the wing, with the newly emerged honey bees having the highest level of resilin autofluorescence compared to all other groups. The results of this study suggest that resilin gene expression and deposition on the wing is age-dependent and may inform us more about the physiology of aging in honey bees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audrey Anderson
- Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1400 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA;
| | - Noah Keime
- Biology Department, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178, USA
| | - Chandler Fong
- Biology Department, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178, USA
| | | | - Carol Fassbinder-Orth
- Biology Department, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178, USA
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Bernklau E, Arathi HS. Seasonal patterns of beneficial phytochemical availability in honey and stored pollen from honey bee colonies in large apiaries. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 2023; 116:1069-1077. [PMID: 37247384 DOI: 10.1093/jee/toad096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Revised: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.; Hymenoptera, Apidae) are the most efficient pollinators in agroecosystems, responsible for the successful production of fruits, nuts, and vegetables, but they continue to face debilitating challenges. One of the major factors leading to these challenges could be linked to poor nutrition that results in weakening the colony, increasing susceptibility to pests and pathogens, and reducing the ability of bees to adapt to other abiotic stresses. Extensively used for commercial pollination, honey bee colonies regularly face exposure to limited diversity in their pollen diet as they are placed in flowering monocrops. Lack of access to diverse plant species compromises the availability of plant secondary compounds (phytochemicals), which, in small amounts, provide significant benefits to honey bee health. We analyzed the beneficial phytochemical content of honey and stored pollen (bee bread) samples from colonies in large apiaries through the active bee season. Samples were evaluated for 4 beneficial phytochemicals (caffeine, kaempferol, gallic acid, and p-coumaric acid), which have previously been shown to improve honey bee health. Our results, as relevant to the apiary locations in the study, indicated that p-coumaric acid is uniformly available throughout the season. Caffeine is completely absent, and gallic acid and kaempferol are not regularly available. Our results suggest the need to explore the potential to deliver beneficial phytochemicals as nutritional supplements to improve bee health. It may be vital for the pollination industry to consider such targeted dietary supplementation as beekeepers strive to meet the increasing demand for crop pollination services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Bernklau
- Department of Agricultural Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
| | - H S Arathi
- Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Kohlmeier P, Feldmeyer B, Foitzik S. Histone acetyltransferases and external demands influence task switching in Temnothorax ants. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230176. [PMID: 37403711 PMCID: PMC10320658 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/06/2023] Open
Abstract
In social hymenopterans, workers specialize in different tasks. Whether a worker nurses the brood or forages is influenced by the responsiveness for task-related cues which in turn is determined by gene expression. Task choice is dynamic and changes throughout a worker's life, e.g. with age or in response to increased demands for certain tasks. Behavioural switches require the ability to adjust gene expression but the mechanisms regulating such transcriptional adaptations remain elusive. We investigated the role of histone acetylation in task specialization and behavioural flexibility in Temnothorax longispinosus ants. By inhibiting p300/CBP histone acetyltransferases (HAT) and manipulating colony composition, we found that HAT inhibition impairs the ability of older workers to switch to brood care. Yet, HAT inhibition increased the ability of young workers to accelerate their behavioural development and switch to foraging. Our data suggest that HAT in combination with social signals indicating task demands play an important role in modulating behaviour. Elevated HAT activity may contribute to keeping young brood carers from leaving the nest, where they would be exposed to high mortality. These findings shed light on the epigenetic processes underlying behavioural flexibility in animals and provide insight into the mechanisms of task specialization in social insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip Kohlmeier
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Memphis, Tennessee, TN, USA
| | - Barbara Feldmeyer
- Molecular Ecology, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
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8
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Corona M, Branchiccela B, Alburaki M, Palmer-Young EC, Madella S, Chen Y, Evans JD. Decoupling the effects of nutrition, age, and behavioral caste on honey bee physiology, immunity, and colony health. Front Physiol 2023; 14:1149840. [PMID: 36994419 PMCID: PMC10040860 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1149840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Nutritional stress, especially a dearth of pollen, has been linked to honey bee colony losses. Colony-level experiments are critical for understanding the mechanisms by which nutritional stress affects individual honey bee physiology and pushes honey bee colonies to collapse. In this study, we investigated the impact of pollen restriction on key markers of honey bee physiology, main elements of the immune system, and predominant honey bee viruses. To achieve this objective, we uncoupled the effects of behavior, age, and nutritional conditions using a new colony establishment technique designed to control size, demography, and genetic background. Our results showed that the expression of storage proteins, including vitellogenin (vg) and royal jelly major protein 1 (mrjp1), were significantly associated with nursing, pollen ingestion, and older age. On the other hand, genes involved in hormonal regulation including insulin-like peptides (ilp1 and ilp2) and methyl farnesoate epoxidase (mfe), exhibited higher expression levels in young foragers from colonies not experiencing pollen restriction. In contrast, pollen restriction induced higher levels of insulin-like peptides in old nurses. On the other hand, we found a strong effect of behavior on the expression of all immune genes, with higher expression levels in foragers. In contrast, the effects of nutrition and age were significant only the expression of the regulatory gene dorsal. We also found multiple interactions of the experimental variables on viral titers, including higher Deformed wing virus (DWV) titers associated with foraging and age-related decline. In addition, nutrition significantly affected DWV titers in young nurses, with higher titers induced by pollen ingestion. In contrast, higher levels of Black queen cell virus (BQCV) were associated with pollen restriction. Finally, correlation, PCA, and NMDS analyses proved that behavior had had the strongest effect on gene expression and viral titers, followed by age and nutrition. These analyses also support multiple interactions among genes and virus analyzed, including negative correlations between the expression of genes encoding storage proteins associated with pollen ingestion and nursing (vg and mrjp1) with the expression of immune genes and DWV titers. Our results provide new insights into the proximal mechanisms by which nutritional stress is associated with changes in honey bee physiology, immunity, and viral titers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Corona
- Bee Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, United States
- *Correspondence: Miguel Corona,
| | - Belen Branchiccela
- Sección Apicultura, Programa de Producción Familiar, Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (INIA) Colonia, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Mohamed Alburaki
- Bee Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, United States
| | - Evan C. Palmer-Young
- Bee Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, United States
| | - Shayne Madella
- Bee Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, United States
| | - Yanping Chen
- Bee Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, United States
| | - Jay D. Evans
- Bee Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD, United States
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Corby-Harris V, Snyder L, Meador C, Watkins-DeJong E, Obernesser BT, Brown N, Carroll MJ. Diet and pheromones interact to shape honey bee (Apis mellifera) worker physiology. JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 143:104442. [PMID: 36195173 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2022.104442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Revised: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Honey bee colony health is a function of the individuals, their interactions, and the environment. A major goal of honey bee research is to understand how colonies respond to stress. Individual-level studies of the bee stress response are tractable, but their results do not always translate to the colony level. Nutritional stress is an important factor in colony declines. Nutrition studies are typically conducted on individual nurse workers (nurses), who are primarily responsible for converting pollen into brood. Nurse physiology is sensitive to both pollen and pheromones, which communicate signals among colony members. Here, we asked whether pheromones influence nurse nutrient pathways involved in brood care, and whether diet influences colony communication. We exposed caged, nurse-aged workers to different combinations of pheromones and pollen, and measured traits related to brood care. We found that pheromones enhanced pollen-dependent processes such as hypopharyngeal gland growth and mrjp1 expression, and buffered the negative effects of starvation. Pollen also enhanced how nurse phenotypes respond to pheromones. Therefore, diet and pheromones interact to influence nurse nutritional physiology and aspects of brood care. These findings have implications for studying colony function and health in an increasingly stressful climate.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucy Snyder
- Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, USDA-ARS, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States
| | - Charlotte Meador
- Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, USDA-ARS, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States
| | | | | | - Nicholas Brown
- Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, USDA-ARS, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States
| | - Mark J Carroll
- Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, USDA-ARS, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States
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10
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Cormier SB, Léger A, Boudreau LH, Pichaud N. Overwintering in North American domesticated honeybees (Apis mellifera) causes mitochondrial reprogramming while enhancing cellular immunity. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:276355. [PMID: 35938391 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.244440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Many factors negatively impact domesticated honeybee (Apis mellifera) health causing a global decrease in their population year after year with major losses occurring during winter, and the cause remains thus far unknown. Here, we monitored for 12 months North American colonies of honeybees enduring important temperature variations throughout the year, to assess the metabolism and immune system of honeybees of summer and winter individuals. Our results show that in flight muscle, mitochondrial respiration via complex I during winter is drastically reduced compared to summer. However, the capacity for succinate and glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) oxidation by mitochondria is increased during winter, resulting in higher mitochondrial oxygen consumption when complex I substrates, succinate and G3P were assessed altogether. Pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, citrate synthase and malate dehydrogenase tend to have reduced activity levels in winter unlike hexokinase, NADH dehydrogenase and pyruvate dehydrogenase. Transcript abundance of highly important immunity proteins like Vitellogenin and Defensin-1 were also increased in winter bees, and a stronger phagocytic response as well as a better hemocyte viability was observed during winter. Thus, a reorganization of substrate utilization favoring succinate and G3P while negatively affecting complex I of the ETS is occurring during winter. We suggest that this might be due to complex I transitioning to a dormant conformation through post-translational modification. Winter bees also have an increased response for antibacterial elimination in honeybees. Overall, this study highlights previously unknown cellular mechanisms between summer and winter honeybees that further our knowledge about this important species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon B Cormier
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, E1A3E9, Canada.,New Brunswick Centre for Precision Medicine (NBCPM), Moncton, NB, E1C8X3, Canada
| | - Adèle Léger
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, E1A3E9, Canada.,New Brunswick Centre for Precision Medicine (NBCPM), Moncton, NB, E1C8X3, Canada
| | - Luc H Boudreau
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, E1A3E9, Canada.,New Brunswick Centre for Precision Medicine (NBCPM), Moncton, NB, E1C8X3, Canada
| | - Nicolas Pichaud
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, E1A3E9, Canada.,New Brunswick Centre for Precision Medicine (NBCPM), Moncton, NB, E1C8X3, Canada
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11
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Wang K, Chen H, Fan RL, Lin ZG, Niu QS, Wang Z, Ji T. Effect of carbendazim on honey bee health: Assessment of survival, pollen consumption, and gut microbiome composition. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 2022; 239:113648. [PMID: 35605324 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Gut microbiota and nutrition play major roles in honey bee health. Recent reports have shown that pesticides can disrupt the gut microbiota and cause malnutrition in honey bees. Carbendazim is the most commonly used fungicide in China, but it is not clear whether carbendazim negatively affects the gut microbes and nutrient intake levels in honey bees. To address this research gap, we assessed the effects of carbendazim on the survival, pollen consumption, and sequenced 16 S rRNA gene to determine the bacterial composition in the midgut and hindgut. Our results suggest that carbendazim exposure does not cause acute death in honey bees even at high concentrations (5000 mg/L), which are extremely unlikely to exist under field conditions. Carbendazim does not disturb the microbiome composition in the gut of young worker bees during gut microbial colonization and adult worker bees with established gut communities in the mid and hindgut. However, carbendazim exposure significantly decreases pollen consumption in honey bees. Thus, exposure of bees to carbendazim can perturb their beneficial nutrition homeostasis, potentially reducing honey bee immunity and increasing their susceptibility to infection by pathogens, which influence effectiveness as pollinators, even colony health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kang Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 225009, China
| | - Heng Chen
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 225009, China
| | - Rong-Li Fan
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 225009, China
| | - Zhe-Guang Lin
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 225009, China
| | - Qing-Sheng Niu
- Key Laboratory for Bee Genetics and Breeding, Jilin Provincial Institute of Apicultural Sciences, Jilin Province 132108, China
| | - Zhi Wang
- Key Laboratory for Bee Genetics and Breeding, Jilin Provincial Institute of Apicultural Sciences, Jilin Province 132108, China
| | - Ting Ji
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 225009, China.
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12
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Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of honeybee brains identifies vitellogenin as caste differentiation-related factor. iScience 2022; 25:104643. [PMID: 35800778 PMCID: PMC9254125 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a well-known eusocial insect. In honeybee colonies, thousands of sterile workers, including nurse and forager bees, perform various tasks within or outside the hive, respectively. The queen is the only fertile female and is responsible for reproduction. The queen and workers share similar genomes but occupy different caste statuses. We established single-cell transcriptomic atlases of brains from queens and worker subcastes and identified five major cell groups: Kenyon, optic lobe, olfactory projection, glial, and hemocyte cells. By dividing Kenyon and glial cells into multiple subtypes based on credible markers, we observed that vitellogenin (vg) was highly expressed in specific glial-cell subtypes in brains of queens. Knockdown of vg at the early larval stage significantly suppressed the development into adult queens. We demonstrate vg expression as a "molecular signature" for the queen caste and suggest involvement of vg in regulating caste differentiation. scRNA-seq revealed distinct gene expression in the brains of queens and workers Vitellogenin (vg) may represent a "molecular signature" of the queen caste Knockdown of vg at early larval stage suppressed development into adult queens Vg may be involved in regulating caste differentiation
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Martelli F, Falcon T, Pinheiro DG, Simões ZLP, Nunes FMF. Worker bees (Apis mellifera) deprived of pollen in the first week of adulthood exhibit signs of premature aging. INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 146:103774. [PMID: 35470035 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2022.103774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2021] [Revised: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Pollinator populations, including bees, are in rapid decline in many parts of the world, raising concerns over the future of ecosystems and food production. Among the factors involved in these declines, poor nutrition deserves attention. The diet consumed by adult worker honeybees (Apis mellifera) is crucial for their behavioral maturation, i.e., the progressive division of labor they perform, such as nurse bees initially and later in life as foragers. Poor pollen nutrition is known to reduce the workers' lifespan, but the underlying physiological and genetic mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we investigate how the lack of pollen in the diet of workers during their first week of adult life can affect age-related phenotypes. During the first seven days of adult life, newly emerged workers were fed either a pollen-deprived (PD) diet mimicking that of an older bee, or a control pollen-rich (PR) diet, as typically consumed by young bees. The PD-fed bees showed alterations in their fat body transcriptome, such as a switch from a protein-lipid based metabolism to a carbohydrate-based metabolism, and a reduced expression of genes involved with immune response. The absence of pollen in the diet also led to an accumulation of oxidative stress markers in fat body tissue and alterations in the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, which became similar to those of chronologically older bees. Together, our data indicate that the absence of pollen during first week of adulthood triggers the premature onset of an aging-related worker phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felipe Martelli
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Tiago Falcon
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Daniel G Pinheiro
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Zilá L P Simões
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Francis M F Nunes
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14049-900, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Rod. Washington Luís - km 235, 13565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
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14
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Traniello IM, Hamilton AR, Gernat T, Cash-Ahmed AC, Harwood GP, Ray AM, Glavin A, Torres J, Goldenfeld N, Robinson GE. Context-dependent influence of threat on honey bee social network dynamics and brain gene expression. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:jeb243738. [PMID: 35202460 PMCID: PMC9001921 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Adverse social experience affects social structure by modifying the behavior of individuals, but the relationship between an individual's behavioral state and its response to adversity is poorly understood. We leveraged naturally occurring division of labor in honey bees and studied the biological embedding of environmental threat using laboratory assays and automated behavioral tracking of whole colonies. Guard bees showed low intrinsic levels of sociability compared with foragers and nurse bees, but large increases in sociability following exposure to a threat. Threat experience also modified the expression of caregiving-related genes in a brain region called the mushroom bodies. These results demonstrate that the biological embedding of environmental experience depends on an individual's societal role and, in turn, affects its future sociability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian M. Traniello
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Adam R. Hamilton
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Tim Gernat
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Swarm Intelligence and Complex Systems Group, Department of Computer Science, Leipzig University, Liepzig D-04109, Germany
| | - Amy C. Cash-Ahmed
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Gyan P. Harwood
- Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Allyson M. Ray
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Abigail Glavin
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Jacob Torres
- Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Nigel Goldenfeld
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Gene E. Robinson
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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15
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Hu J, Zhan R, Wu H, Li Y. Wolf Pack's Role Matching Labor Division Model for Dynamic Task Allocation of Swarm Robotics. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SWARM INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH 2022. [DOI: 10.4018/ijsir.310063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
First, through in-depth analysis of the diversified collective behaviors in wolf pack, this study summarizes four remarkable features of wolf pack's labor division. Second, the wolf pack's role-task matching labor division mechanism is investigated, namely the individual wolves perform specific tasks that match their respective roles, and then a novel role matching labor division model is proposed. Finally, the performances of RMM are tested and evaluated with two swarm robotics task allocation scenarios. It is proved that RMM has higher solving efficiency and faster calculation speed for the concerned problem than the compared approach. Moreover, the proposed model shows advantages in the task allocation balance, robustness, and real time, especially in the dynamic response capability to the complex and changing environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinqiang Hu
- Armed Police Force Engineering University, China
| | - Renjun Zhan
- Armed Police Force Engineering University, China
| | - Husheng Wu
- Armed Police Force Engineering University, China
| | - Yongli Li
- Armed Police Force Engineering University, China
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16
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Snow JW. Nosema apis and N. ceranae Infection in Honey bees: A Model for Host-Pathogen Interactions in Insects. EXPERIENTIA SUPPLEMENTUM (2012) 2022; 114:153-177. [PMID: 35544003 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-93306-7_7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
There has been increased focus on the role of microbial attack as a potential cause of recent declines in the health of the western honey bee, Apis mellifera. The Nosema species, N. apis and N. ceranae, are microsporidian parasites that are pathogenic to honey bees, and infection by these species has been implicated as a key factor in honey bee losses. Honey bees infected with both Nosema spp. display significant changes in their biology at the cellular, tissue, and organismal levels impacting host metabolism, immune function, physiology, and behavior. Infected individuals lead to colony dysfunction and can contribute to colony disease in some circumstances. The means through which parasite growth and tissue pathology in the midgut lead to the dramatic physiological and behavioral changes at the organismal level are only partially understood. In addition, we possess only a limited appreciation of the elements of the host environment that impact pathogen growth and development. Critical for answering these questions is a mechanistic understanding of the host and pathogen machinery responsible for host-pathogen interactions. A number of approaches are already being used to elucidate these mechanisms, and promising new tools may allow for gain- and loss-of-function experiments to accelerate future progress.
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17
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Schilcher F, Hilsmann L, Rauscher L, Değirmenci L, Krischke M, Krischke B, Ankenbrand M, Rutschmann B, Mueller MJ, Steffan-Dewenter I, Scheiner R. In Vitro Rearing Changes Social Task Performance and Physiology in Honeybees. INSECTS 2021; 13:insects13010004. [PMID: 35055848 PMCID: PMC8779213 DOI: 10.3390/insects13010004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary The rearing of honeybee larvae in the laboratory is an important tool for studying the effects of plant protection products or pathogens on developing and adult bees, yet how rearing under artificial conditions affects the later social behavior and physiology of the honeybees is mostly unknown. We, here, show that honeybees reared in the laboratory generally had a lower probability for performing nursing or foraging tasks compared to bees reared under natural conditions in bee colonies. Nursing behavior itself appeared normal in in vitro honeybees. In contrast, bees reared in the laboratory foraged for a shorter period in life and performed fewer trips compared to bees reared in colonies. In addition, in vitro honeybees did not display the typical increase in juvenile hormone titer, which goes hand-in-hand with the initiation of foraging in colony-reared bees. Abstract In vitro rearing of honeybee larvae is an established method that enables exact control and monitoring of developmental factors and allows controlled application of pesticides or pathogens. However, only a few studies have investigated how the rearing method itself affects the behavior of the resulting adult honeybees. We raised honeybees in vitro according to a standardized protocol: marking the emerging honeybees individually and inserting them into established colonies. Subsequently, we investigated the behavioral performance of nurse bees and foragers and quantified the physiological factors underlying the social organization. Adult honeybees raised in vitro differed from naturally reared honeybees in their probability of performing social tasks. Further, in vitro-reared bees foraged for a shorter duration in their life and performed fewer foraging trips. Nursing behavior appeared to be unaffected by rearing condition. Weight was also unaffected by rearing condition. Interestingly, juvenile hormone titers, which normally increase strongly around the time when a honeybee becomes a forager, were significantly lower in three- and four-week-old in vitro bees. The effects of the rearing environment on individual sucrose responsiveness and lipid levels were rather minor. These data suggest that larval rearing conditions can affect the task performance and physiology of adult bees despite equal weight, pointing to an important role of the colony environment for these factors. Our observations of behavior and metabolic pathways offer important novel insight into how the rearing environment affects adult honeybees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felix Schilcher
- Biocentre, Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (L.H.); (L.R.); (L.D.); (R.S.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-931-31-85373
| | - Lioba Hilsmann
- Biocentre, Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (L.H.); (L.R.); (L.D.); (R.S.)
| | - Lisa Rauscher
- Biocentre, Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (L.H.); (L.R.); (L.D.); (R.S.)
| | - Laura Değirmenci
- Biocentre, Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (L.H.); (L.R.); (L.D.); (R.S.)
| | - Markus Krischke
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Julius-von-Sachs-Institute, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 2, 97082 Würzburg, Germany; (M.K.); (M.J.M.)
| | - Beate Krischke
- Biocentre, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (B.K.); (B.R.); (I.S.-D.)
| | - Markus Ankenbrand
- Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology (CCTB), Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Klara-Oppenheimer-Weg 32, 97074 Würzburg, Germany;
| | - Benjamin Rutschmann
- Biocentre, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (B.K.); (B.R.); (I.S.-D.)
| | - Martin J. Mueller
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Julius-von-Sachs-Institute, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 2, 97082 Würzburg, Germany; (M.K.); (M.J.M.)
| | - Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
- Biocentre, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (B.K.); (B.R.); (I.S.-D.)
| | - Ricarda Scheiner
- Biocentre, Department of Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (L.H.); (L.R.); (L.D.); (R.S.)
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18
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Bataglia L, Simões ZLP, Nunes FMF. Active genic machinery for epigenetic RNA modifications in bees. INSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2021; 30:566-579. [PMID: 34291855 DOI: 10.1111/imb.12726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Epitranscriptomics is an emerging field of investigation dedicated to the study of post-transcriptional RNA modifications. RNA methylations regulate RNA metabolism and processing, including changes in response to environmental cues. Although RNA modifications are conserved from bacteria to eukaryotes, there is little evidence of an epitranscriptomic pathway in insects. Here we identified genes related to RNA m6 A (N6-methyladenine) and m5 C (5-methylcytosine) methylation machinery in seven bee genomes (Apis mellifera, Melipona quadrifasciata, Frieseomelitta varia, Eufriesea mexicana, Bombus terrestris, Megachile rotundata and Dufourea novaeangliae). In A. mellifera, we validated the expression of methyltransferase genes and found that the global levels of m6 A and m5 C measured in the fat body and brain of adult workers differ significantly. Also, m6 A levels were differed significantly mainly between the fourth larval instar of queens and workers. Moreover, we found a conserved m5 C site in the honeybee 28S rRNA. Taken together, we confirm the existence of epitranscriptomic machinery acting in bees and open avenues for future investigations on RNA epigenetics in a wide spectrum of hymenopteran species.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Bataglia
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Z L P Simões
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - F M F Nunes
- Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
- Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, Brazil
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19
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Lucas C, Ben-Shahar Y. The foraging gene as a modulator of division of labour in social insects. J Neurogenet 2021; 35:168-178. [PMID: 34151702 DOI: 10.1080/01677063.2021.1940173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The social ants, bees, wasps, and termites include some of the most ecologically-successful groups of animal species. Their dominance in most terrestrial environments is attributed to their social lifestyle, which enable their colonies to exploit environmental resources with remarkable efficiency. One key attribute of social insect colonies is the division of labour that emerges among the sterile workers, which represent the majority of colony members. Studies of the mechanisms that drive division of labour systems across diverse social species have provided fundamental insights into the developmental, physiological, molecular, and genomic processes that regulate sociality, and the possible genetic routes that may have led to its evolution from a solitary ancestor. Here we specifically discuss the conserved role of the foraging gene, which encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG). Originally identified as a behaviourally polymorphic gene that drives alternative foraging strategies in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, changes in foraging expression and kinase activity were later shown to play a key role in the division of labour in diverse social insect species as well. In particular, foraging appears to regulate worker transitions between behavioural tasks and specific behavioural traits associated with morphological castes. Although the specific neuroethological role of foraging in the insect brain remains mostly unknown, studies in genetically tractable insect species indicate that PKG signalling plays a conserved role in the neuronal plasticity of sensory, cognitive and motor functions, which underlie behaviours relevant to division of labour, including appetitive learning, aggression, stress response, phototaxis, and the response to pheromones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Lucas
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte (UMR7261), CNRS - University of Tours, Tours, France
| | - Yehuda Ben-Shahar
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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20
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Antibiotic Treatment Decrease the Fitness of Honeybee ( Apis mellifera) Larvae. INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12040301. [PMID: 33808048 PMCID: PMC8066305 DOI: 10.3390/insects12040301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 03/11/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary To determine the biologic function of gut bacteria with no host specificity in honeybee larvae, honeybee larvae were treated with antibiotics for disrupting the gut bacteria. Then, the body weight, development time, and expression of nutrient metabolism genes and immune genes of honeybee larvae were investigated. The results demonstrated that the disruption of gut microbiota by antibiotics weakened the nutrient metabolism, decreased the body weight, extended the development process, and decrease the immune competence of honeybee larvae, indicating the vital roles of gut bacteria in bee larvae fitness. Abstract Symbiotic bacteria could increase the nutrient provision, regulate the physiological state, and promote immunity in their insect host. Honeybee larvae harbor plenty of bacteria in their gut, but their functions are not well studied. To determine their effect on honeybee larvae, the 1-day-old larvae were grafted on to 24-well plates from the comb and artificially reared in the lab. They were treated with penicillin–streptomycin to remove the gut symbiotic bacteria. Then, the 5-day-old larvae and the newly emerged adults were weighted. The developmental periods to pupae and eclosion were investigated, respectively. The bacterial amount, expression of developmental regulation genes (ecr and usp), nutrient metabolism genes (ilp1, ilp2, hex 70a, hex 70b, hex 70c, and hex 110), and immunity genes (apidaecin, abaecin, defensin-1, and hymenoptaecin) were determined by qRT-PCR. The result showed that the antibiotics-treated larvae have significantly lower body weights in the 5-day-old larvae and the emerged bees. The expression of ilp2 and hex 70c in 5-day-old larvae was down-regulated. The usp was down-regulated in 5-day-old larvae, but increased in 7-day-old larvae, which disturbed the normal developmental process and caused the extension of eclosion. Moreover, antibiotics treatment significantly decreased the expression of apidaecin and abaecin in 5-day-old larvae, and defensin-1 and hymenoptaecin in 7-day-old larvae, respectively. These results showed that antibiotics could weaken the nutrient metabolism, disturb the development process, and decrease the immune competence of honeybee larvae, indicating the vital roles of gut bacteria in bee larvae fitness, so the antibiotics should be avoided to control microbial disease in honeybee larvae.
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21
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Han B, Wei Q, Wu F, Hu H, Ma C, Meng L, Zhang X, Feng M, Fang Y, Rueppell O, Li J. Tachykinin signaling inhibits task-specific behavioral responsiveness in honeybee workers. eLife 2021; 10:64830. [PMID: 33760729 PMCID: PMC8016481 DOI: 10.7554/elife.64830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral specialization is key to the success of social insects and leads to division of labor among colony members. Response thresholds to task-specific stimuli are thought to proximally regulate behavioral specialization, but their neurobiological regulation is complex and not well understood. Here, we show that response thresholds to task-relevant stimuli correspond to the specialization of three behavioral phenotypes of honeybee workers in the well-studied and important Apis mellifera and Apis cerana. Quantitative neuropeptidome comparisons suggest two tachykinin-related peptides (TRP2 and TRP3) as candidates for the modification of these response thresholds. Based on our characterization of their receptor binding and downstream signaling, we confirm a functional role of tachykinin signaling in regulating specific responsiveness of honeybee workers: TRP2 injection and RNAi-mediated downregulation cause consistent, opposite effects on responsiveness to task-specific stimuli of each behaviorally specialized phenotype but not to stimuli that are unrelated to their tasks. Thus, our study demonstrates that TRP signaling regulates the degree of task-specific responsiveness of specialized honeybee workers and may control the context specificity of behavior in animals more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Han
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China.,Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, United States
| | - Qiaohong Wei
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Fan Wu
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China.,Biometrology and Inspection & Quarantine, College of Life Science, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Han Hu
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Chuan Ma
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Lifeng Meng
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Xufeng Zhang
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China.,Institute of Horticultural Research, Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Mao Feng
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Yu Fang
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Olav Rueppell
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, United States.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Jianke Li
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
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22
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Wild B, Dormagen DM, Zachariae A, Smith ML, Traynor KS, Brockmann D, Couzin ID, Landgraf T. Social networks predict the life and death of honey bees. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1110. [PMID: 33597518 PMCID: PMC7889932 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21212-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In complex societies, individuals' roles are reflected by interactions with other conspecifics. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) generally change tasks as they age, but developmental trajectories of individuals can vary drastically due to physiological and environmental factors. We introduce a succinct descriptor of an individual's social network that can be obtained without interfering with the colony. This 'network age' accurately predicts task allocation, survival, activity patterns, and future behavior. We analyze developmental trajectories of multiple cohorts of individuals in a natural setting and identify distinct developmental pathways and critical life changes. Our findings suggest a high stability in task allocation on an individual level. We show that our method is versatile and can extract different properties from social networks, opening up a broad range of future studies. Our approach highlights the relationship of social interactions and individual traits, and provides a scalable technique for understanding how complex social systems function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Wild
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - David M Dormagen
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Michael L Smith
- Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Kirsten S Traynor
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Global Biosocial Complexity Initiative, Arizona State University, Tempe, FL, USA
| | - Dirk Brockmann
- Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Iain D Couzin
- Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Tim Landgraf
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
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23
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Genetic Underpinnings of Host Manipulation by Ophiocordyceps as Revealed by Comparative Transcriptomics. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2020; 10:2275-2296. [PMID: 32354705 PMCID: PMC7341126 DOI: 10.1534/g3.120.401290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Ant-infecting Ophiocordyceps fungi are globally distributed, host manipulating, specialist parasites that drive aberrant behaviors in infected ants, at a lethal cost to the host. An apparent increase in activity and wandering behaviors precedes a final summiting and biting behavior onto vegetation, which positions the manipulated ant in a site beneficial for fungal growth and transmission. We investigated the genetic underpinnings of host manipulation by: (i) producing a high-quality hybrid assembly and annotation of the Ophiocordyceps camponoti-floridani genome, (ii) conducting laboratory infections coupled with RNAseq of O. camponoti-floridani and its host, Camponotus floridanus, and (iii) comparing these data to RNAseq data of Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae and Camponotus castaneus as a powerful method to identify gene expression patterns that suggest shared behavioral manipulation mechanisms across Ophiocordyceps-ant species interactions. We propose differentially expressed genes tied to ant neurobiology, odor response, circadian rhythms, and foraging behavior may result by activity of putative fungal effectors such as enterotoxins, aflatrem, and mechanisms disrupting feeding behaviors in the ant.
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Rittschof CC, Rubin BER, Palmer JH. The transcriptomic signature of low aggression in honey bees resembles a response to infection. BMC Genomics 2019; 20:1029. [PMID: 31888487 PMCID: PMC6937707 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-6417-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Behavior reflects an organism's health status. Many organisms display a generalized suite of behaviors that indicate infection or predict infection susceptibility. We apply this concept to honey bee aggression, a behavior that has been associated with positive health outcomes in previous studies. We sequenced the transcriptomes of the brain, fat body, and midgut of adult sibling worker bees who developed as pre-adults in relatively high versus low aggression colonies. Previous studies showed that this pre-adult experience impacts both aggressive behavior and resilience to pesticides. We performed enrichment analyses on differentially expressed genes to determine whether variation in aggression resembles the molecular response to infection. We further assessed whether the transcriptomic signature of aggression in the brain is similar to the neuromolecular response to acute predator threat, exposure to a high-aggression environment as an adult, or adult behavioral maturation. RESULTS Across all three tissues assessed, genes that are differentially expressed as a function of aggression significantly overlap with genes whose expression is modulated by a variety of pathogens and parasitic feeding. In the fat body, and to some degree the midgut, our data specifically support the hypothesis that low aggression resembles a diseased or parasitized state. However, we find little evidence of active infection in individuals from the low aggression group. We also find little evidence that the brain molecular signature of aggression is enriched for genes modulated by social cues that induce aggression in adults. However, we do find evidence that genes associated with adult behavioral maturation are enriched in our brain samples. CONCLUSIONS Results support the hypothesis that low aggression resembles a molecular state of infection. This pattern is most robust in the peripheral fat body, an immune responsive tissue in the honey bee. We find no evidence of acute infection in bees from the low aggression group, suggesting the physiological state characterizing low aggression may instead predispose bees to negative health outcomes when they are exposed to additional stressors. The similarity of molecular signatures associated with the seemingly disparate traits of aggression and disease suggests that these characteristics may, in fact, be intimately tied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare C Rittschof
- University of Kentucky, S-225 Agricultural Science Center North, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA.
| | - Benjamin E R Rubin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA
| | - Joseph H Palmer
- Kentucky State University, 400 E. Main St., Frankfort, KY, 40601, USA
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Grünewald B, Siefert P. Acetylcholine and Its Receptors in Honeybees: Involvement in Development and Impairments by Neonicotinoids. INSECTS 2019; 10:E420. [PMID: 31771114 PMCID: PMC6955729 DOI: 10.3390/insects10120420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2019] [Revised: 11/18/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Acetylcholine (ACh) is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the insect central nervous system (CNS). However, besides the neuronal expression of ACh receptors (AChR), the existence of non-neuronal AChR in honeybees is plausible. The cholinergic system is a popular target of insecticides because the pharmacology of insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) differs substantially from their vertebrate counterparts. Neonicotinoids are agonists of the nAChR and are largely used in crop protection. In contrast to their relatively high safety for humans and livestock, neonicotinoids pose a threat to pollinating insects such as bees. In addition to its effects on behavior, it becomes increasingly evident that neonicotinoids affect developmental processes in bees that appear to be independent of neuronal AChRs. Brood food (royal jelly, worker jelly, or drone jelly) produced in the hypopharyngeal glands of nurse bees contains millimolar concentrations of ACh, which is required for proper larval development. Neonicotinoids reduce the secreted ACh-content in brood food, reduce hypopharyngeal gland size, and lead to developmental impairments within the colony. We assume that potential hazards of neonicotinoids on pollinating bees occur neuronally causing behavioral impairments on adult individuals, and non-neuronally causing developmental disturbances as well as destroying gland functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernd Grünewald
- Institut für Bienenkunde, Polytechnische Gesellschaft, FB Biowissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Karl-von-Frisch-Weg 2, D-61440 Oberursel, Germany;
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Branchiccela B, Castelli L, Corona M, Díaz-Cetti S, Invernizzi C, Martínez de la Escalera G, Mendoza Y, Santos E, Silva C, Zunino P, Antúnez K. Impact of nutritional stress on the honeybee colony health. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10156. [PMID: 31300738 PMCID: PMC6626013 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46453-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2019] [Accepted: 06/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Honeybees Apis mellifera are important pollinators of wild plants and commercial crops. For more than a decade, high percentages of honeybee colony losses have been reported worldwide. Nutritional stress due to habitat depletion, infection by different pests and pathogens and pesticide exposure has been proposed as the major causes. In this study we analyzed how nutritional stress affects colony strength and health. Two groups of colonies were set in a Eucalyptus grandis plantation at the beginning of the flowering period (autumn), replicating a natural scenario with a nutritionally poor food source. While both groups of colonies had access to the pollen available in this plantation, one was supplemented with a polyfloral pollen patty during the entire flowering period. In the short-term, colonies under nutritional stress (which consumed mainly E. grandis pollen) showed higher infection level with Nosema spp. and lower brood and adult bee population, compared to supplemented colonies. On the other hand, these supplemented colonies showed higher infection level with RNA viruses although infection levels were low compared to countries were viral infections have negative impacts. Nutritional stress also had long-term colony effects, because bee population did not recover in spring, as in supplemented colonies did. In conclusion, nutritional stress and Nosema spp. infection had a severe impact on colony strength with consequences in both short and long-term.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Branchiccela
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Av. Italia 3318, CP 11,600, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - L Castelli
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Av. Italia 3318, CP 11,600, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - M Corona
- Bee Research Laboratory United Stated Department of Agriculture, United States of America, Center Road 306, CP 20,705, Beltsville, Maryland, United States of America
| | - S Díaz-Cetti
- Sección Apicultura, Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria, Route 50 km 11, CP 39173, Colonia, Uruguay
| | - C Invernizzi
- Sección Etología, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - G Martínez de la Escalera
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Av. Italia 3318, CP 11,600, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Y Mendoza
- Sección Apicultura, Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria, Route 50 km 11, CP 39173, Colonia, Uruguay
| | - E Santos
- Sección Etología, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - C Silva
- Sección Apicultura, Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria, Route 50 km 11, CP 39173, Colonia, Uruguay
| | - P Zunino
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Av. Italia 3318, CP 11,600, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - K Antúnez
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Av. Italia 3318, CP 11,600, Montevideo, Uruguay.
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Hendriksma HP, Toth AL, Shafir S. Individual and Colony Level Foraging Decisions of Bumble Bees and Honey Bees in Relation to Balancing of Nutrient Needs. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
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28
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Hou L, Li B, Ding D, Kang L, Wang X. CREB-B acts as a key mediator of NPF/NO pathway involved in phase-related locomotor plasticity in locusts. PLoS Genet 2019; 15:e1008176. [PMID: 31150381 PMCID: PMC6561586 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2019] [Revised: 06/12/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene expression changes in neural systems are essential for environment-induced behavioral plasticity in animals; however, neuronal signaling pathways mediating the effect of external stimuli on transcriptional changes are largely unknown. Recently, we have demonstrated that the neuropeptide F (NPF)/nitric oxide (NO) signaling pathway plays a regulatory role in phase-related locomotor plasticity in the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria. Here, we report that a conserved transcription factor, cAMP response element-binding protein B (CREB-B), is a key mediator involved in the signaling pathway from NPF2 to NOS in the migratory locust, triggering locomotor activity shift between solitarious and gregarious phases. We find that CREB-B directly activates brain NOS expression by interacting with NOS promoter region. The phosphorylation at serine 110 site of CREB-B dynamically changes in response to population density variation and is negatively controlled by NPF2. The involvement of CREB-B in NPF2-regulated locomotor plasticity is further validated by RNAi experiment and behavioral assay. Furthermore, we reveal that protein kinase A mediates the regulatory effects of NPF2 on CREB-B phosphorylation and NOS transcription. These findings highlight a precise signal cascade underlying environment-induced behavioral plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Beibei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ding Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Le Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xianhui Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Doering GN, Pretorius J, Meunier J, Pruitt JN. Collective personalities: present knowledge and new frontiers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2639-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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30
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Kohlmeier P, Alleman AR, Libbrecht R, Foitzik S, Feldmeyer B. Gene expression is more strongly associated with behavioural specialization than with age or fertility in ant workers. Mol Ecol 2019; 28:658-670. [PMID: 30525254 DOI: 10.1111/mec.14971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2018] [Revised: 11/09/2018] [Accepted: 11/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The ecological success of social insects is based on division of labour, not only between queens and workers, but also among workers. Whether a worker tends the brood or forages is influenced by age, fertility and nutritional status, with brood carers being younger, more fecund and more corpulent. Here, we experimentally disentangle behavioural specialization from age and fertility in Temnothorax longispinosus ant workers and analyse how these parameters are linked to whole-body gene expression. A total of 3,644 genes were associated with behavioural specialization which is ten times more than associated with age and 50 times more than associated with fertility. Brood carers were characterized by an upregulation of three Vitellogenin (Vg) genes, one of which, Vg-like A, was the most differentially expressed gene that was recently shown experimentally to control the switch from brood to worker care. The expression of Conventional Vg was unlinked to behavioural specialization, age or fertility, which contrasts to studies on bees and some ants. Diversity in Vg/Vg-like copy number and expression bias across ants supports subfunctionalization of Vg genes and indicates that some regulatory mechanisms of division of labour diverged in different ant lineages. Simulations revealed that our experimental dissociation of co-varying factors reduced transcriptomic noise, suggesting that confounding factors could potentially explain inconsistencies across transcriptomic studies of behavioural specialization in ants. Thus, our study reveals that worker gene expression is mainly linked to the worker's function for the colony and provides novel insights into the evolution of sociality in ants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip Kohlmeier
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Austin R Alleman
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Romain Libbrecht
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Barbara Feldmeyer
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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31
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Abstract
The tremendous diversity of animal behaviors has inspired generations of scientists from an array of biological disciplines. To complement investigations of ecological and evolutionary factors contributing to behavioral evolution, modern sequencing, gene editing, computational and neuroscience tools now provide a means to discover the proximate mechanisms upon which natural selection acts to generate behavioral diversity. Social behaviors are motivated behaviors that can differ tremendously between closely related species, suggesting phylogenetic plasticity in their underlying biological mechanisms. In addition, convergent evolution has repeatedly given rise to similar forms of social behavior and mating systems in distantly related species. Social behavioral divergence and convergence provides an entry point for understanding the neurogenetic mechanisms contributing to behavioral diversity. We argue that the greatest strides in discovering mechanisms contributing to social behavioral diversity will be achieved through integration of interdisciplinary comparative approaches with modern tools in diverse species systems. We review recent advances and future potential for discovering mechanisms underlying social behavioral variation; highlighting patterns of social behavioral evolution, oxytocin and vasopressin neuropeptide systems, genetic/transcriptional "toolkits," modern experimental tools, and alternative species systems, with particular emphasis on Microtine rodents and Lake Malawi cichlid fishes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary V Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Larry J Young
- Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Li J, Heerman MC, Evans JD, Rose R, Li W, Rodríguez-García C, DeGrandi-Hoffman G, Zhao Y, Huang S, Li Z, Hamilton M, Chen Y. Pollen reverses decreased lifespan, altered nutritional metabolism, and suppressed immunity in honey bees (Apis mellifera) treated with antibiotics. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.202077. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.202077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2018] [Accepted: 02/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Nutrition is involved in regulating multiple aspects of honeybee biology such as caste, immunity, lifespan, growth and behavioral development. Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a major pathogenic factor which threatens honeybee populations, and its replication is regulated by nutrition status and immune responses of honeybees. The alimentary canal of the honeybee is home to a diverse microbial community that provides essential nutrients and serves to bolster immune responses. However, to what extent gut bacteria affect honeybee nutrition metabolism and immunity with respect to DWV has not been investigated fully. In this study, newly emerged worker bees were subjected to four diets that contained 1) pollen, 2) pollen and antibiotics, 3) neither pollen nor antibiotics, 4) antibiotics alone. The expression level of two nutrition genes target of rapamycin (tor) and insulin like peptide (ilp1), one nutritional marker gene vitellogenin (vg), five major royal jelly proteins genes (mrjp1-5), one antimicrobial peptide regulating gene relish (rel), and DWV virus titer and its replication intermediate, negative RNA strand, were determined by qRT-PCR from the honeybees after 7 days post antibiotic treatment. Additionally, honeybee head weight and survival rate were measured. We observed that antibiotics decreased the expression of tor and rel, increased DWV titer and its replication activity. Expression of ilp1, five mrjps, vg, and honeybee head weight were also reduced compared to bees on a pollen diet. Antibiotics also caused a significant drop in survivorship, which could be rescued by addition of pollen to diets. Of importance, pollen could partially rescue the loss of vg and mrjp2 while also increasing head weight of antibiotic-treated bees. Our results illuminate the roles of bacteria in honeybee nutrition, metabolism, and immunity; which confer the capability of inhibiting virus replication, extending honeybee lifespan, and improving overall health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianghong Li
- USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Bldg. 306, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Matthew C. Heerman
- USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Bldg. 306, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | - Jay D. Evans
- USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Bldg. 306, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | - Robyn Rose
- USDA APHIS, Plant Protection and Quarantine, 4700 River Rd, Riverdale, MD 20737, USA
| | - Wenfeng Li
- USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Bldg. 306, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | | | | | - Yazhou Zhao
- USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Bldg. 306, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
- Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China
| | - Shaokang Huang
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Zhiguo Li
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Michele Hamilton
- USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Bldg. 306, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
| | - Yanping Chen
- USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Bldg. 306, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
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Measuring biological age to assess colony demographics in honeybees. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0209192. [PMID: 30543711 PMCID: PMC6292630 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Honeybee colonies are increasingly exposed to environmental stress factors, which can lead to their decline or failure. However, there are major gaps in stressor risk assessment due to the difficulty of assessing the honeybee colony state and detecting abnormal events. Since stress factors usually induce a demographic disturbance in the colony (e.g. loss of foragers, early transition from nurse to forager state), we suggest that disturbances could be revealed indirectly by measuring the age- and task-related physiological state of bees, which can be referred to as biological age (an indicator of the changes in physiological state that occur throughout an individual lifespan). We therefore estimated the biological age of bees from the relationship between age and biomarkers of task specialization (vitellogenin and the adipokinetic hormone receptor). This relationship was determined from a calibrated sample set of known-age bees and mathematically modelled for biological age prediction. Then, we determined throughout the foraging season the evolution of the biological age of bees from colonies with low (conventional apiary) or high Varroa destructor infestation rates (organic apiary). We found that the biological age of bees from the conventional apiary progressively decreased from the spring (17 days) to the fall (6 days). However, in colonies from the organic apiary, the population aged from spring (13 days) to summer (18.5 days) and then rejuvenated in the fall (13 days) after Varroa treatment. Biological age was positively correlated with the amount of brood (open and closed cells) in the apiary with low Varroa pressure, and negatively correlated with Varroa infestation level in the apiary with high Varroa pressure. Altogether, these results show that the estimation of biological age is a useful and effective method for assessing colony demographic state and likely detrimental effects of stress factors.
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Kohlmeier P, Feldmeyer B, Foitzik S. Vitellogenin-like A-associated shifts in social cue responsiveness regulate behavioral task specialization in an ant. PLoS Biol 2018; 16:e2005747. [PMID: 29874231 PMCID: PMC5991380 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2005747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2018] [Accepted: 05/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Division of labor and task specialization explain the success of human and insect societies. Social insect colonies are characterized by division of labor, with workers specializing in brood care early and foraging later in life. Theory posits that this task switching requires shifts in responsiveness to task-related cues, yet experimental evidence is weak. Here, we show that a Vitellogenin (Vg) ortholog identified in an RNAseq study on the ant T. longispinosus is involved in this process: using phylogenetic analyses of Vg and Vg-like genes, we firstly show that this candidate gene does not cluster with the intensively studied honey bee Vg but falls into a separate Vg-like A cluster. Secondly, an experimental knockdown of Vg-like A in the fat body caused a reduction in brood care and an increase in nestmate care in young ant workers. Nestmate care is normally exhibited by older workers. We demonstrate experimentally that this task switch is at least partly based on Vg-like A-associated shifts in responsiveness from brood to worker cues. We thus reveal a novel mechanism leading to early behavioral maturation via changes in social cue responsiveness mediated by Vg-like A and associated pathways, which proximately play a role in regulating division of labor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip Kohlmeier
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular and Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Barbara Feldmeyer
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular and Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Jones B, Shipley E, Arnold KE. Social immunity in honeybees-Density dependence, diet, and body mass trade-offs. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:4852-4859. [PMID: 29876063 PMCID: PMC5980322 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Accepted: 02/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Group living is favorable to pathogen spread due to the increased risk of disease transmission among individuals. Similar to individual immune defenses, social immunity, that is antiparasite defenses mounted for the benefit of individuals other than the actor, is predicted to be altered in social groups. The eusocial honey bee (Apis mellifera) secretes glucose oxidase (GOX), an antiseptic enzyme, throughout its colony, thereby providing immune protection to other individuals in the hive. We conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate the effects of group density on social immunity, specifically GOX activity, body mass and feeding behavior in caged honey bees. Individual honeybees caged in a low group density displayed increased GOX activity relative to those kept at a high group density. In addition, we provided evidence for a trade-off between GOX activity and body mass: Individuals caged in the low group density had a lower body mass, despite consuming more food overall. Our results provide the first experimental evidence that group density affects a social immune response in a eusocial insect. Moreover, we showed that the previously reported trade-off between immunity and body mass extends to social immunity. GOX production appears to be costly for individuals, and potentially the colony, given that low body mass is correlated with small foraging ranges in bees. At high group densities, individuals can invest less in social immunity than at low densities, while presumably gaining shared protection from infection. Thus, there is evidence that trade-offs at the individual level (GOX vs. body mass) can affect colony-level fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Jones
- Fera Science LtdThe National Agri‐Food Innovation CampusYorkUK
- Present address:
Applied Insect Science LtdAmbrose House, Tanfield LaneRipon, North YorkshireUK
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Abstract
The identification of genes affecting sociality can give insights into the maintenance and development of sociality and personality. In this study, we used the combination of an advanced intercross between wild and domestic chickens with a combined QTL and eQTL genetical genomics approach to identify genes for social reinstatement, a social and anxiety-related behavior. A total of 24 social reinstatement QTL were identified and overlaid with over 600 eQTL obtained from the same birds using hypothalamic tissue. Correlations between overlapping QTL and eQTL indicated five strong candidate genes, with the gene TTRAP being strongly significantly correlated with multiple aspects of social reinstatement behavior, as well as possessing a highly significant eQTL.
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Chronic Nosema ceranae infection inflicts comprehensive and persistent immunosuppression and accelerated lipid loss in host Apis mellifera honey bees. Int J Parasitol 2018; 48:433-444. [PMID: 29452081 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2017.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2017] [Revised: 10/31/2017] [Accepted: 11/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Nosema ceranae is an intracellular microsporidian parasite of the Asian honey bee Apis cerana and the European honey bee Apis mellifera. Until relatively recently, A. mellifera honey bees were naïve to N. ceranae infection. Symptoms of nosemosis, or Nosema disease, in the infected hosts include immunosuppression, damage to gut epithelium, nutrient and energetic stress, precocious foraging and reduced longevity of infected bees. Links remain unclear between immunosuppression, the symptoms of nutrient and energetic stress, and precocious foraging behavior of hosts. To clarify physiological connections, we inoculated newly emerged A. mellifera adult workers with N. ceranae spores, and over 21 days post inoculation (21 days pi), gauged infection intensity and quantified expression of genes representing two innate immune pathways, Toll and Imd. Additionally, we measured each host's whole-body protein, lipids, carbohydrates and quantified respirometric and activity levels. Results show sustained suppression of genes of both humorally regulated immune response pathways after 6 days pi. At 7 days pi, elevated protein levels of infected bees may reflect synthesis of antimicrobial peptides from an initial immune response, but the lack of protein gain compared with uninfected bees at 14 days pi may represent low de novo protein synthesis. Carbohydrate data do not indicate that hosts experience severe metabolic stress related to this nutrient. At 14 days pi infected honey bees show high respirometric and activity levels, and corresponding lipid loss, suggesting lipids may be used as fuel for increased metabolic demands resulting from infection. Accelerated lipid loss during nurse honey bee behavioral development can have cascading effects on downstream physiology that may lead to precocious foraging, which is a major factor driving colony collapse.
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Rittschof CC, Vekaria HJ, Palmer JH, Sullivan PG. Brain mitochondrial bioenergetics change with rapid and prolonged shifts in aggression in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. J Exp Biol 2018; 221:jeb.176917. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.176917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2018] [Accepted: 02/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Neuronal function demands high-level energy production, and as such, a decline in mitochondrial respiration characterizes brain injury and disease. A growing number of studies, however, link brain mitochondrial function to behavioral modulation in non-diseased contexts. In the honey bee, we show for the first time that an acute social interaction, which invokes an aggressive response, may also cause a rapid decline in brain mitochondrial bioenergetics. The degree and speed of this decline has only been previously observed in the context of brain injury. Furthermore, in the honey bee, age-related increases in aggressive tendency are associated with increased baseline brain mitochondrial respiration, as well as increased plasticity in response to metabolic fuel type in vitro. Similarly, diet restriction and ketone body feeding, which commonly enhance mammalian brain mitochondrial function in vivo, cause increased aggression. Thus, even in normal behavioral contexts, brain mitochondria show a surprising degree of variation in function over both rapid and prolonged timescales, with age predicting both baseline function and plasticity in function. These results suggest that mitochondrial function is integral to modulating aggression-related neuronal signaling. We hypothesize that variation in function reflects mitochondrial calcium buffering activity, and that shifts in mitochondrial function signal to the neuronal soma to regulate gene expression and neural energetic state. Modulating brain energetic state is emerging as a critical component of the regulation of behavior in non-diseased contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare C. Rittschof
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, S-225 Ag. Science Center North, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA
| | - Hemendra J. Vekaria
- Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center and the Department of Neuroscience, University of Kentucky, 741 South Limestone Street, 475 BBSRB, Lexington, KY 40536-0509, USA
| | - Joseph H. Palmer
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, S-225 Ag. Science Center North, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA
| | - Patrick G. Sullivan
- Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center and the Department of Neuroscience, University of Kentucky, 741 South Limestone Street, 475 BBSRB, Lexington, KY 40536-0509, USA
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Behavior, brain, and morphology in a complex insect society: trait integration and social evolution in the exceptionally polymorphic ant Pheidole rhea. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2396-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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40
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Nie H, Liu X, Pan J, Li W, Li Z, Zhang S, Chen S, Miao X, Zheng N, Su S. Identification of genes related to high royal jelly production in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) using microarray analysis. Genet Mol Biol 2017; 40:781-789. [PMID: 28981563 PMCID: PMC5738612 DOI: 10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2017-0013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 05/04/2017] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
China is the largest royal jelly producer and exporter in the world, and high
royal jelly-yielding strains have been bred in the country for approximately
three decades. However, information on the molecular mechanism underlying high
royal jelly production is scarce. Here, a cDNA microarray was used to screen and
identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to obtain an overview on the
changes in gene expression levels between high and low royal jelly producing
bees. We developed a honey bee gene chip that covered 11,689 genes, and this
chip was hybridised with cDNA generated from RNA isolated from heads of nursing
bees. A total of 369 DEGs were identified between high and low royal jelly
producing bees. Amongst these DEGs, 201 (54.47%) genes were up-regulated,
whereas 168 (45.53%) were down-regulated in high royal jelly-yielding bees. Gene
ontology (GO) analyses showed that they are mainly involved in four key
biological processes, and pathway analyses revealed that they belong to a total
of 46 biological pathways. These results provide a genetic basis for further
studies on the molecular mechanisms involved in high royal jelly production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongyi Nie
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Xiaoyan Liu
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Jiao Pan
- College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenfeng Li
- College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhiguo Li
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Shaowu Zhang
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.,Research School of Biology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Shenglu Chen
- College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaoqing Miao
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Nenggan Zheng
- College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Qiushi Academy for Advanced Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Songkun Su
- College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China
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41
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Abstract
The study of insect social behavior has offered tremendous insight into the molecular mechanisms mediating behavioral and phenotypic plasticity. Genomic applications to the study of eusocial insect species, in particular, have led to several hypotheses for the processes underlying the molecular evolution of behavior. Advances in understanding the genetic control of social organization have also been made, suggesting an important role for supergenes in the evolution of divergent behavioral phenotypes. Intensive study of social phenotypes across species has revealed that behavior and caste are controlled by an interaction between genetic and environmentally mediated effects and, further, that gene expression and regulation mediate plastic responses to environmental signals. However, several key methodological flaws that are hindering progress in the study of insect social behavior remain. After reviewing the current state of knowledge, we outline ongoing challenges in experimental design that remain to be overcome in order to advance the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea A Weitekamp
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; ,
| | - Romain Libbrecht
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany;
| | - Laurent Keller
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; ,
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42
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Fischer EK, O'Connell LA. Modification of feeding circuits in the evolution of social behavior. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 220:92-102. [PMID: 28057832 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.143859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Adaptive trade-offs between foraging and social behavior intuitively explain many aspects of individual decision-making. Given the intimate connection between social behavior and feeding/foraging at the behavioral level, we propose that social behaviors are linked to foraging on a mechanistic level, and that modifications of feeding circuits are crucial in the evolution of complex social behaviors. In this Review, we first highlight the overlap between mechanisms underlying foraging and parental care and then expand this argument to consider the manipulation of feeding-related pathways in the evolution of other complex social behaviors. We include examples from diverse taxa to highlight that the independent evolution of complex social behaviors is a variation on the theme of feeding circuit modification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva K Fischer
- Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Lauren A O'Connell
- Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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43
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Kim K, Kim JH, Kim YH, Hong SE, Lee SH. Pathway profiles based on gene-set enrichment analysis in the honey bee Apis mellifera under brood rearing-suppressed conditions. Genomics 2017; 110:43-49. [PMID: 28803879 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2017.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2017] [Revised: 07/25/2017] [Accepted: 08/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Perturbation of normal behaviors in honey bee colonies by any external factor can immediately reduce the colony's capacity for brood rearing, which can eventually lead to colony collapse. To investigate the effects of brood-rearing suppression on the biology of honey bee workers, gene-set enrichment analysis of the transcriptomes of worker bees with or without suppressed brood rearing was performed. When brood rearing was suppressed, pathways associated with both protein degradation and synthesis were simultaneously over-represented in both nurses and foragers, and their overall pathway representation profiles resembled those of normal foragers and nurses, respectively. Thus, obstruction of normal labor induced over-representation in pathways related with reshaping of worker bee physiology, suggesting that transition of labor is physiologically reversible. In addition, some genes associated with the regulation of neuronal excitability, cellular and nutritional stress and aggressiveness were over-expressed under brood rearing suppression perhaps to manage in-hive stress under unfavorable conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyungmun Kim
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Republic of Korea
| | - Ju Hyeon Kim
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Republic of Korea
| | - Young Ho Kim
- Department of Applied Biology, College of Ecology & Environmental Science, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea
| | - Seong-Eui Hong
- Theragen Etex, Bio Institute, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
| | - Si Hyeock Lee
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Republic of Korea; Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
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44
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Scheiner R, Entler BV, Barron AB, Scholl C, Thamm M. The Effects of Fat Body Tyramine Level on Gustatory Responsiveness of Honeybees ( Apis mellifera) Differ between Behavioral Castes. Front Syst Neurosci 2017; 11:55. [PMID: 28848405 PMCID: PMC5550709 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2017.00055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2017] [Accepted: 07/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Division of labor is a hallmark of social insects. In the honeybee (Apis mellifera) each sterile female worker performs a series of social tasks. The most drastic changes in behavior occur when a nurse bee, who takes care of the brood and the queen in the hive, transitions to foraging behavior. Foragers provision the colony with pollen, nectar or water. Nurse bees and foragers differ in numerous behaviors, including responsiveness to gustatory stimuli. Differences in gustatory responsiveness, in turn, might be involved in regulating division of labor through differential sensory response thresholds. Biogenic amines are important modulators of behavior. Tyramine and octopamine have been shown to increase gustatory responsiveness in honeybees when injected into the thorax, thereby possibly triggering social organization. So far, most of the experiments investigating the role of amines on gustatory responsiveness have focused on the brain. The potential role of the fat body in regulating sensory responsiveness and division of labor has large been neglected. We here investigated the role of the fat body in modulating gustatory responsiveness through tyramine signaling in different social roles of honeybees. We quantified levels of tyramine, tyramine receptor gene expression and the effect of elevating fat body tyramine titers on gustatory responsiveness in both nurse bees and foragers. Our data suggest that elevating the tyramine titer in the fat body pharmacologically increases gustatory responsiveness in foragers, but not in nurse bees. This differential effect of tyramine on gustatory responsiveness correlates with a higher natural gustatory responsiveness of foragers, with a higher tyramine receptor (Amtar1) mRNA expression in fat bodies of foragers and with lower baseline tyramine titers in fat bodies of foragers compared to those of nurse bees. We suggest that differential tyramine signaling in the fat body has an important role in the plasticity of division of labor through changing gustatory responsiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricarda Scheiner
- Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, Biocenter, University of WürzburgWürzburg, Germany
| | - Brian V Entler
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie UniversitySydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Andrew B Barron
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie UniversitySydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Christina Scholl
- Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, Biocenter, University of WürzburgWürzburg, Germany
| | - Markus Thamm
- Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, Biocenter, University of WürzburgWürzburg, Germany
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45
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LaLone CA, Villeneuve DL, Wu-Smart J, Milsk RY, Sappington K, Garber KV, Housenger J, Ankley GT. Weight of evidence evaluation of a network of adverse outcome pathways linking activation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in honey bees to colony death. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2017; 584-585:751-775. [PMID: 28126277 PMCID: PMC6156782 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2016] [Revised: 01/17/2017] [Accepted: 01/18/2017] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
Ongoing honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony losses are of significant international concern because of the essential role these insects play in pollinating crops. Both chemical and non-chemical stressors have been implicated as possible contributors to colony failure; however, the potential role(s) of commonly-used neonicotinoid insecticides has emerged as particularly concerning. Neonicotinoids act on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the central nervous system to eliminate pest insects. However, mounting evidence indicates that neonicotinoids also may adversely affect beneficial pollinators, such as the honey bee, via impairments on learning and memory, and ultimately foraging success. The specific mechanisms linking activation of the nAChR to adverse effects on learning and memory are uncertain. Additionally, clear connections between observed impacts on individual bees and colony level effects are lacking. The objective of this review was to develop adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) as a means to evaluate the biological plausibility and empirical evidence supporting (or refuting) the linkage between activation of the physiological target site, the nAChR, and colony level consequences. Potential for exposure was not a consideration in AOP development and therefore this effort should not be considered a risk assessment. Nonetheless, development of the AOPs described herein has led to the identification of research gaps which, for example, may be of high priority in understanding how perturbation of pathways involved in neurotransmission can adversely affect normal colony functions, causing colony instability and subsequent bee population failure. A putative AOP network was developed, laying the foundation for further insights as to the role of combined chemical and non-chemical stressors in impacting bee populations. Insights gained from the AOP network assembly, which more realistically represents multi-stressor impacts on honey bee colonies, are promising toward understanding common sensitive nodes in key biological pathways and identifying where mitigation strategies may be focused to reduce colony losses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlie A LaLone
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Mid-Continent Ecology Division, 6201 Congdon Blvd., Duluth, MN 55804, USA.
| | - Daniel L Villeneuve
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Mid-Continent Ecology Division, 6201 Congdon Blvd., Duluth, MN 55804, USA
| | - Judy Wu-Smart
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Entomology, 105A Entomology Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA
| | - Rebecca Y Milsk
- ORISE Research Participation Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Mid-Continent Ecology Division, 6201 Congdon Blvd., Duluth, MN 55804, USA
| | - Keith Sappington
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, Washington D.C. 20460, USA
| | - Kristina V Garber
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, Washington D.C. 20460, USA
| | - Justin Housenger
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, Washington D.C. 20460, USA
| | - Gerald T Ankley
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Mid-Continent Ecology Division, 6201 Congdon Blvd., Duluth, MN 55804, USA
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46
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Bordier C, Suchail S, Pioz M, Devaud JM, Collet C, Charreton M, Le Conte Y, Alaux C. Stress response in honeybees is associated with changes in task-related physiology and energetic metabolism. JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2017; 98:47-54. [PMID: 27908721 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2016.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2016] [Revised: 11/10/2016] [Accepted: 11/22/2016] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
In a rapidly changing environment, honeybee colonies are increasingly exposed to diverse sources of stress (e.g., new parasites, pesticides, climate warming), which represent a challenge to individual and social homeostasis. However, bee physiological responses to stress remain poorly understood. We therefore exposed bees specialised in different tasks (nurses, guards and foragers) to ancient (immune and heat stress) or historically more recent sources of stress (pesticides), and we determined changes in the expression of genes linked to behavioural maturation (vitellogenin - vg and juvenile hormone esterase - jhe) as well as in energetic metabolism (glycogen level, expression level of the receptor to the adipokinetic hormone - akhr, and endothermic performance). While acute exposure to sublethal doses of two pesticides did not affect vg and jhe expression, immune and heat challenges caused a decrease and increase in both genes, respectively, suggesting that bees had responded to ecologically relevant stressors. Since vg and jhe are expressed to a higher level in nurses than in foragers, it is reasonable to assume that an immune challenge stimulated behavioural maturation to decrease potential contamination risk and that a heat challenge promoted a nurse profile for brood thermoregulation. All behavioural castes responded in the same way. Though endothermic performances did not change upon stress exposure, the akhr level dropped in immune and heat-challenged individuals. Similarly, the abdomen glycogen level tended to decline in immune-challenged bees. Altogether, these results suggest that bee responses are stress specific and adaptive but that they tend to entail a reduction of energetic metabolism that needs to be studied on a longer timescale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Célia Bordier
- INRA, UR 406 Abeilles et Environnement, Domaine Saint-Paul, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon, France.
| | - Séverine Suchail
- Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale, IMBE UAPV AMU IRD, Pôle Agrosciences, 301 rue Baruch de Spinoza, 84916 Avignon, France
| | - Maryline Pioz
- INRA, UR 406 Abeilles et Environnement, Domaine Saint-Paul, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon, France
| | - Jean Marc Devaud
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, France
| | - Claude Collet
- INRA, UR 406 Abeilles et Environnement, Domaine Saint-Paul, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon, France
| | - Mercedes Charreton
- INRA, UR 406 Abeilles et Environnement, Domaine Saint-Paul, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon, France
| | - Yves Le Conte
- INRA, UR 406 Abeilles et Environnement, Domaine Saint-Paul, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon, France
| | - Cédric Alaux
- INRA, UR 406 Abeilles et Environnement, Domaine Saint-Paul, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon, France
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47
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Badaoui B, Fougeroux A, Petit F, Anselmo A, Gorni C, Cucurachi M, Cersini A, Granato A, Cardeti G, Formato G, Mutinelli F, Giuffra E, Williams JL, Botti S. RNA-sequence analysis of gene expression from honeybees (Apis mellifera) infected with Nosema ceranae. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0173438. [PMID: 28350872 PMCID: PMC5370102 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2015] [Accepted: 02/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are constantly subjected to many biotic stressors including parasites. This study examined honeybees infected with Nosema ceranae (N. ceranae). N. ceranae infection increases the bees energy requirements and may contribute to their decreased survival. RNA-seq was used to investigate gene expression at days 5, 10 and 15 Post Infection (P.I) with N. ceranae. The expression levels of genes, isoforms, alternative transcription start sites (TSS) and differential promoter usage revealed a complex pattern of transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulation suggesting that bees use a range of tactics to cope with the stress of N. ceranae infection. N. ceranae infection may cause reduced immune function in the bees by: (i)disturbing the host amino acids metabolism (ii) down-regulating expression of antimicrobial peptides (iii) down-regulation of cuticle coatings and (iv) down-regulation of odorant binding proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bouabid Badaoui
- Parco Tecnologico Padano - CERSA, Integrative Biology Group, Lodi, Italy
| | | | | | - Anna Anselmo
- Parco Tecnologico Padano - CERSA, Integrative Biology Group, Lodi, Italy
| | - Chiara Gorni
- Parco Tecnologico Padano - CERSA, Integrative Biology Group, Lodi, Italy
| | - Marco Cucurachi
- Parco Tecnologico Padano - CERSA, Integrative Biology Group, Lodi, Italy
| | - Antonella Cersini
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana, Roma, Italy
| | - Anna Granato
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Legnaro, Padua, Italy
| | - Giusy Cardeti
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana, Roma, Italy
| | - Giovanni Formato
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana, Roma, Italy
| | - Franco Mutinelli
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Legnaro, Padua, Italy
| | - Elisabetta Giuffra
- Parco Tecnologico Padano - CERSA, Integrative Biology Group, Lodi, Italy
| | - John L. Williams
- Davies Research Centre, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, South Australia, Australia
| | - Sara Botti
- Parco Tecnologico Padano - CERSA, Integrative Biology Group, Lodi, Italy
- * E-mail:
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48
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Scheiner R, Reim T, Søvik E, Entler BV, Barron AB, Thamm M. Learning, gustatory responsiveness and tyramine differences across nurse and forager honeybees. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 220:1443-1450. [PMID: 28167800 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.152496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2016] [Accepted: 01/30/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Honeybees are well known for their complex division of labor. Each bee sequentially performs a series of social tasks during its life. The changes in social task performance are linked to gross differences in behavior and physiology. We tested whether honeybees performing different social tasks (nursing versus foraging) would differ in their gustatory responsiveness and associative learning behavior in addition to their daily tasks in the colony. Further, we investigated the role of the biogenic amine tyramine and its receptors in the behavior of nurse bees and foragers. Tyramine is an important insect neurotransmitter, which has long been neglected in behavioral studies as it was believed to only act as the metabolic precursor of the better-known amine octopamine. With the increasing number of characterized tyramine receptors in diverse insects, we need to understand the functions of tyramine on its own account. Our findings suggest an important role for tyramine and its two receptors in regulating honeybee gustatory responsiveness, social organization and learning behavior. Foragers, which were more responsive to gustatory stimuli than nurse bees and performed better in appetitive learning, also differed from nurse bees in their tyramine brain titers and in the mRNA expression of a tyramine receptor in the brain. Pharmacological activation of tyramine receptors increased gustatory responsiveness of nurse bees and foragers and improved appetitive learning in nurse bees. These data suggest that a large part of the behavioral differences between honeybees may be directly linked to tyramine signaling in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricarda Scheiner
- University of Würzburg, Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology, Biocenter, Am Hubland, Würzburg 97074, Germany .,University of Potsdam, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Potsdam 14476, Germany
| | - Tina Reim
- University of Potsdam, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Potsdam 14476, Germany
| | - Eirik Søvik
- Macquarie University, Department of Biological Sciences, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.,Volda University College, Department of Science and Mathematics, Volda 6100, Norway
| | - Brian V Entler
- Macquarie University, Department of Biological Sciences, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Andrew B Barron
- Macquarie University, Department of Biological Sciences, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Markus Thamm
- University of Würzburg, Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology, Biocenter, Am Hubland, Würzburg 97074, Germany
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49
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Dancers and followers in a honeybee colony differently prioritize individual and colony nutritional needs. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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50
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Wang Y, Kaftanoglu O, Brent CS, Page RE, Amdam GV. Starvation stress during larval development facilitates an adaptive response in adult worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). J Exp Biol 2016; 219:949-59. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.130435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2015] [Accepted: 12/22/2015] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
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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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Osman Kaftanoglu
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Colin S. Brent
- US Department of Agriculture, Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center, Maricopa, AZ 85138, USA
| | - Robert E. Page
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 96616, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
| | - Gro V. Amdam
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Aas, N-1432, Norway
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