Comparisons of the queen volatile compounds of instrumentally inseminated versus naturally mated honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens

Abstract

-Instrumental insemination is an attractive alternative to natural mating because specific genetic crosses can be made, thus producing colonies with desired traits. However, there are conflicting reports on the quality and acceptance of instrumentally inseminated (II) queens compared to naturally mated (NM) queens. One factor that affects acceptance and retention of queens is the volatile compounds they produce. Our study compared volatile chemicals from virgin and mated honey bee queens that were either NM or II. The volatile compounds from virgin queens differed from those of mated egg-laying queens. Virgin queens produced greater relative amounts of the volatile compounds we detected (including 2-phenylethanol, noctanal, and n-decanal) with the exception of E-β-ocimene, which was higher in mated laying queens. II and NM queens did not differ in type or relative amounts of volatile compounds. The similarities between II and NM queens indicate that the physiological changes that happen after mating and egg laying occur regardless of the mating method.E-β-ocimene / queen acceptance / n-decanal / n-octanal / 2-phenylethanol

Queen-produced volatiles change dynamically during reproductive swarming and are associated with changes in honey bee (Apis mellifera) worker behavior

“…Although all five components of QMP were detectable by our SPME sampling method (data not shown), none of them were detected from the queens in our study nor were they reported by other studies that used SPME to sample queen volatiles (Gilley et al 2006;Huang et al 2009). Previous studies suggest that 9-ODA is important for stabilizing swarms (Butler et al 1964) and for worker detection of the presence of queens in airborne swarms (Avitabile et al 1975), while HVA also helps to stabilize and attract swarms (Winston et al 1982).…”

“…We identified two compounds (heptadecane and pentadecane) that were produced by significantly more queens at liftoff and whose quantities were also significantly higher at liftoff. While previous studies of changes in pheromone production by queens have focused on relatively stable long-term differences between virgin and mated queens (Slessor et al 1990;Gilley et al 2006) or among mated queens with different mating qualities (Huang et al 2009;Niño et al 2013), our results suggest that mated queens can alter their chemical output in response to relatively short-term changes in the state of the social collective, as workers do when they release Nasonov or alarm pheromones in response to quickly shifting conditions (Pickett et al 1980;Breed et al 2004). These results suggest that queens may play a more active role in organizing the swarming process than was previously known.…”

“…(E /Z )-β-ocimene was produced by queens at all stages, but levels of this compound were significantly higher in liftoff queens (Table I). (E )-β-ocimene was previously identified as a queen volatile that is emitted at higher levels by egg-laying queens than by unmated queens (Gilley et al 2006;Huang et al 2009). Benzyl alcohol, geranyl acetone, and benzyl benzoate trended toward being emitted by more liftoff queens than inhive queens, and benzyl alcohol and benzyl benzoate and were produced at significantly higher quantities in liftoff queens (Table I).…”

“…SPME has been used previously to characterize volatile chemical profiles of honey bee queens (Gilley et al 2006;Huang et al 2009) and waggle-dancing honey bee workers (Thom et al 2007). We used 65-μm polydimethylsiloxane divinylbenzene SPME fibers (Supelco SPME fiber 57326U; Sigma-Aldrich, Bellefonte, PA, USA) because they capture the largest number of queen-produced volatiles compared to other fiber types (Gilley et al 2006;Huang et al 2009). Fibers were decontaminated before each exposure to a queen by insertion into a GC/MS at 250°C for 3 min, and then the end of the fiber assembly was wrapped with Teflon tape to minimize adsorption of environmental volatiles prior to exposure to queens.…”

Collection of volatiles from honeybee larvae and adults enclosed on brood frames

“…Four of the compounds have been reported from adult bees or colony materials, while two have been found primarily in larvae. The aldehyde decanal is released primarily by workers and virgin queens (Huang et al 2009;Winston 1987) and is also present in wax odors. The terpene 3-carene is a major component of wax odors.…”