Effect of queen pheromone on worker bees of different ages: behavioural and electrophysiological responses

Pham-Delègue, M.H.; Trouiller, J.; Caillaud, Catherine; Roger, Bob; Masson, C.

doi:10.1051/apido:19930307

Cited by 36 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Numerous studies report that responsiveness to QMP is highly variable (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), but why this is so remains a mystery. To address this issue, we began by comparing the responses of individual bees toward a strip impregnated with synthetic QMP and a control (untreated) strip of the same dimensions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Peripheral modulation of worker bee responses to queen mandibular pheromone

Vergoz

McQuillan

Geddes

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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It is generally accepted that young worker bees (Apis mellifera L.) are highly attracted to queen mandibular pheromone (QMP). Our results challenge this widely held view. We have found that unless young workers are exposed to QMP early in adult life, they, like foragers, avoid contact with this pheromone. Our data indicate that responses to QMP are regulated peripherally, at the level of the antennal sensory neurons, and that a window of opportunity exists in which QMP can alter a young bee's response to this critically important pheromone. Exposing young bees to QMP from the time of adult emergence reduces expression in the antennae of the D1-like dopamine receptor gene, Amdop1. Levels of Amdop3 transcript, on the other hand, and of the octopamine receptor gene Amoa1, are significantly higher in the antennae of bees strongly attracted to QMP than in bees showing no attraction to this pheromone. A decline in QMP attraction with age is accompanied by a fall in expression in worker antennae of the D2-like dopamine receptor, AmDOP3, a receptor that is selectively activated by QMP. Taken together, our findings suggest that QMP's actions peripherally not only suppress avoidance behavior, but also enhance attraction to QMP, thereby facilitating attendance of the queen.dopamine ͉ honeybee ͉ olfaction ͉ pheromone

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1, see also [14][15][16][17][18][19]. However, the inclusion of control strips in this study helped to reveal whether bees responded neutrally to QMP, or were attracted or repelled by the pheromone.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peripheral modulation of worker bee responses to queen mandibular pheromone

Vergoz

McQuillan

Geddes

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…For example, bees raised in queenless conditions for 4 days have smaller synaptic structures in the antennal lobe, suggesting that QMP may influence synaptic growth and remodeling during this time frame (12). Thus, the dynamic nature of the response to QMP might be related to the fact that the bee's olfactory system continues developing for the first few days of adult life (32).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pheromone-mediated gene expression in the honey bee brain

Grozinger

Sharabash

Whitfield

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

309

362

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We tested the hypothesis that queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) causes changes in gene expression in the brain of the adult worker honey bee, and that these changes can be correlated to the downstream behavioral responses induced by QMP. In support of the first hypothesis, cage experiments revealed that QMP transiently regulated expression of several hundred genes and chronically regulated the expression of 19 genes. Several of these genes were also affected by QMP in experiments with bee colonies in the field, demonstrating robust gene regulation by pheromone. To evaluate the second hypothesis, we focused on one function of QMP: delaying the transition from working in the hive (e.g., brood care, or ''nursing'') to foraging. We compared the list of QMPregulated genes with the lists of genes differentially regulated in nurse and forager brains generated in a separate study. QMP consistently activated ''nursing genes'' and repressed ''foraging genes,'' suggesting that QMP may delay behavioral maturation by regulating genes in the brain that produce these behavioral states. We also report here on an ortholog of the Drosophila transcription factor kruppel homolog 1 that was strongly regulated by QMP, especially in the mushroom bodies of the bee brain. These results demonstrate chronic gene regulation by a primer pheromone and illustrate the potential of genomics to trace the actions of a pheromone from perception to action, and thereby provide insights into how pheromones regulate social life. Many animal species, from insects to mammals, communicate via pheromones, chemicals that cause dramatic alterations in physiology and behavior. The recent identification of olfactory and pheromone receptors in Drosophila melanogaster and the mouse have provided new insights into how the olfactory system senses and encodes odorants (reviewed in refs. 1 and 2). It also has been demonstrated that pheromones affect gene expression in brain neurons, particularly with respect to immediate-early genes (3, 4). However, the molecular mechanisms by which pheromones are further transduced in the brain to influence behavior are only beginning to be understood (1). Particularly interesting are long-term changes in brain gene expression that might result from exposure to primer pheromones. These long-term changes in gene expression may be responsible for inducing long-term changes in physiology and behavior, a hallmark of primer pheromone action. Here we report on our efforts to use the honey bee (Apis mellifera) to study the effects of a primer pheromone on brain gene expression. We also have begun to correlate these gene expression changes with pheromone-mediated behavioral changes.Honey bees show complex social organization that is controlled to a large extent by pheromones, many of which have been well characterized, both chemically and with respect to their specific behavioral effects (5-8). We studied the best understood bee pheromone, queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), a wellcharacterized blend that is part of a recently identified nin...

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“…Thus, it is possible to overcome heterospecific acceptance barriers against adults by using emerging A. mellifera workers in queenright A. cerana host colonies. Such young honeybee workers lack olfactory sensitivity (Pham-Delegue et al 1993;Laloi et al 2001) and behavioral aggressiveness and cannot participate in pheromonally induced colony defense (Whiffler et al 1988). They are also in the nurse-bee stage of division of labor and may be expected to participate in heterospecific brood rearing unless they discriminate the grafted A. cerana larvae as artifacts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gigantism in honeybees: Apis cerana queens reared in mixed-species colonies

Tan

Hepburn

et al. 2006

Naturwissenschaften

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The development of animals depends on both genetic and environmental effects to a varying extent. Their relative influences can be evaluated in the social insects by raising the intracolonial diversity to an extreme in nests consisting of workers from more than one species. In this study, we studied the effects of mixed honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera and Apis cerana on the rearing of grafted queen larvae of A. cerana. A. mellifera sealed worker brood was introduced into A. cerana colonies and on emergence, the adults were accepted. Then, A. cerana larvae were grafted for queen rearing into two of these mixed-species colonies. Similarly, A. cerana larvae and A. mellifera larvae were also grafted conspecifically as controls. The success rate of A. cerana queen rearing in the test colonies was 64.5%, surpassing all previous attempts at interspecific queen rearing. After emergence, all virgin queens obtained from the three groups (N=90) were measured morphometrically. The A. cerana queens from the mixed-species colonies differed significantly in size and pigmentation from the A. cerana control queens and closely approximated the A. mellifera queens. It is inferred that these changes in the A. cerana queens reared in the mixed-species colonies can be attributed to feeding by heterospecific nurse bees and/or chemical differences in royal jelly. Our data show a strong impact of environment on the development of queens. The results further suggest that in honeybees the cues for brood recognition can be learned by heterospecific workers after eclosion, thereby providing a novel analogy to slave making in ants.

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Effect of queen pheromone on worker bees of different ages: behavioural and electrophysiological responses

Cited by 36 publications

References 28 publications

Peripheral modulation of worker bee responses to queen mandibular pheromone

Peripheral modulation of worker bee responses to queen mandibular pheromone

Pheromone-mediated gene expression in the honey bee brain

Gigantism in honeybees: Apis cerana queens reared in mixed-species colonies

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