Honeybee (Apis mellifera) worker bees (workers) are known to perform wide variety of tasks depending on their ages. The worker's brains also show the activity and behavior-dependent chemical and structural plasticity. To test if there are any changes of gene expression associated with different ages in the worker brains, we compared the gene expression patterns between the brains of newly emerged bees and old foraging workers (foragers) by macroarray analysis. The expression of genes encoding signal transduction pathway components, ion channels, and neurotransmitter transporters is elevated in the old forager brains, suggesting that the neuronal activities would be enhanced. The mRNA levels of cell adhesion protein, transcription related factors, and plasma membrane associated proteins are also increased in the old forager brains. Meanwhile, the mRNA level of one putative cell adhesion protein is decreased in the old forager brains. These results thus suggest that the dramatic changes of gene expression occur in honeybee brains associated with ages.
Effects of the deregulated c-fos gene product on IL-2 expression were studied in splenic T cells from c-fos transgenic (H2-c-fos) mice. IL-2 gene expression and IL-2 production by H2-c-fos T cells stimulated with immobilized anti-CD3 Abs were enhanced and prolonged as compared with those by control T cells. Activator protein-1 activity in nuclear extract from the H2-c-fos T cells was also higher than that from the control cells. There was no significant difference in the activity of other transcription factors including IL-2 kappa B, NFAT, and Oct-1, between the H2-c-fos and the control T cells. However, activity of a negative regulatory element binding factor (NRE-A) in the H2-c-fos T cells was much lower than that in the control cells. These results suggest that c-Fos/activator protein-1 is a major regulatory factor for IL-2 gene expression in splenic T cells activated through the TCR/CD3 complex.
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