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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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Barron AB, Plath JA. The evolution of honey bee dance communication: a mechanistic perspective. J Exp Biol 2017; 220:4339-4346. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.142778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Honey bee dance has been intensively studied as a communication system, and yet we still know very little about the neurobiological mechanisms supporting how dances are produced and interpreted. Here, we discuss how new information on the functions of the central complex (CX) of the insect brain might shed some light on possible neural mechanisms of dance behaviour. We summarise the features of dance communication across the species of the genus Apis. We then propose that neural mechanisms of orientation and spatial processing found to be supported by the CX may function in dance communication also, and that this mechanistic link could explain some specific features of the dance form. This is purely a hypothesis, but in proposing this hypothesis, and how it might be investigated, we hope to stimulate new mechanistic analyses of dance communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew B. Barron
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Jenny Aino Plath
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
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3
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I'Anson Price R, Grüter C. Why, when and where did honey bee dance communication evolve? Front Ecol Evol 2015. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Incorporating variability in honey bee waggle dance decoding improves the mapping of communicated resource locations. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2013; 199:1143-52. [DOI: 10.1007/s00359-013-0860-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2013] [Revised: 09/30/2013] [Accepted: 09/30/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Tan K, Hu Z, Chen W, Wang Z, Wang Y, Nieh JC. Fearful foragers: honey bees tune colony and individual foraging to multi-predator presence and food quality. PLoS One 2013; 8:e75841. [PMID: 24098734 PMCID: PMC3786909 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2013] [Accepted: 08/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Fear can have strong ecosystem effects by giving predators a role disproportionate to their actual kill rates. In bees, fear is shown through foragers avoiding dangerous food sites, thereby reducing the fitness of pollinated plants. However, it remains unclear how fear affects pollinators in a complex natural scenario involving multiple predator species and different patch qualities. We studied hornets, Vespa velutina (smaller) and V. tropica (bigger) preying upon the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana in China. Hornets hunted bees on flowers and were attacked by bee colonies. Bees treated the bigger hornet species (which is 4 fold more massive) as more dangerous. It received 4.5 fold more attackers than the smaller hornet species. We tested bee responses to a three-feeder array with different hornet species and varying resource qualities. When all feeders offered 30% sucrose solution (w/w), colony foraging allocation, individual visits, and individual patch residence times were reduced according to the degree of danger. Predator presence reduced foraging visits by 55–79% and residence times by 17–33%. When feeders offered different reward levels (15%, 30%, or 45% sucrose), colony and individual foraging favored higher sugar concentrations. However, when balancing food quality against multiple threats (sweeter food corresponding to higher danger), colonies exhibited greater fear than individuals. Colonies decreased foraging at low and high danger patches. Individuals exhibited less fear and only decreased visits to the high danger patch. Contrasting individual with emergent colony-level effects of fear can thus illuminate how predators shape pollination by social bees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ken Tan
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming, China
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
- * E-mail:
| | - Zongwen Hu
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Weiwen Chen
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Zhengwei Wang
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Yuchong Wang
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - James C. Nieh
- Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America
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Morpurgo G, Babudri N, Fioretti B, Catacuzzeno L. Mosaicism may explain the evolution of social characters in haplodiploid Hymenoptera with female workers. Genetica 2010; 138:1111-7. [PMID: 21072567 DOI: 10.1007/s10709-010-9515-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2009] [Accepted: 05/10/2010] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The role of haplodiploidy in the evolution of eusocial insects and why in Hymenoptera males do not perform any work is presently unknown. We show here that within-colony conflict caused by the coexistence of individuals of the same caste expressing the same character in different ways can be fundamental in the evolution of social characters in species that have already reached the eusocial condition. Mosaic colonies, composed by individuals expressing either the wild-type or a mutant phenotype, inevitably occurs during the evolution of advantageous social traits in insects. We simulated the evolution of an advantageous social trait increasing colony fitness in haplodiploid and diplodiploid species considering all possible conditions, i.e. dominance/recessivity of the allele determining the new social character, sex of the castes, and influence of mosaicism on the colony fitness. When mosaicism lowered colony fitness below that of the colony homogeneous for the wild type allele, the fixation of an advantageous social character was possible only in haplodiploids with female castes. When mosaicism caused smaller reductions in colony fitness, reaching frequencies of 90% was much faster in haplodiploids with female castes and dominant mutations. Our results suggest that the evolution of social characters is easier in haplodiploid than in diplodiploid species, provided that workers are females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgio Morpurgo
- Dipartimento di Biologia Cellulare e Ambientale, Università di Perugia, Via Elce di Sotto, 06100 Perugia, Italy.
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Yang MX, Tan K, Radloff SE, Phiancharoen M, Hepburn HR. Comb construction in mixed-species colonies of honeybees, Apis cerana and Apis mellifera. J Exp Biol 2010; 213:1659-64. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.035626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
SUMMARY
Comb building in mixed-species colonies of Apis cerana and Apis mellifera was studied. Two types of cell-size foundation were made from the waxes of these species and inserted into mixed colonies headed either by an A. cerana or an A. mellifera queen. The colonies did not discriminate between the waxes but the A. cerana cell-size foundation was modified during comb building by the workers of both species. In pure A. cerana colonies workers did not accept any foundation but secreted wax and built on foundation in mixed colonies. Comb building is performed by small groups of workers through a mechanism of self-organisation. The two species cooperate in comb building and construct nearly normal combs but they contain many irregular cells. In pure A. mellifera colonies, the A. cerana cell size was modified and the queens were reluctant to lay eggs on such combs. In pure A. cerana colonies, the A. mellifera cell size was built without any modification but these cells were used either for drone brood rearing or for food storing. The principal elements of comb-building behaviour are common to both species, which indicates that they evolved prior to and were conserved after speciation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming-Xian Yang
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650201, People's Republic of China
| | - Ken Tan
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650201, People's Republic of China
- Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming, Yunnan Province, 650223, People's Republic of China
| | - Sarah E. Radloff
- Department of Statistics, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
| | - Mananya Phiancharoen
- Rachaburi campus, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 126 Prachautid Road, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
| | - H. Randall Hepburn
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
- Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650201, People's Republic of China
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Interspecific utilisation of wax in comb building by honeybees. Naturwissenschaften 2009; 96:719-23. [DOI: 10.1007/s00114-009-0517-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2008] [Revised: 02/10/2009] [Accepted: 02/16/2009] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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