Factors affecting ovary activation in honey bee workers: a meta-analysis

Abstract

A conspicuous feature of honey bee social biology is the division of labour between reproductive queens and functionally sterile workers. However, the sterility of workers is conditional and sensitive to genetic and environmental context. Despite this understanding, we do not yet know how effective differences in genotype versus differences in colony environment are for generating variation in levels of ovary activation in a population of workers. We therefore performed a field study and meta-analysis to estimate the standardized effect size g of broad 'environmental' and 'genetic' manipulations on worker ovary scores. Despite considerable differences in methodology and treatment among published studies, we report that both genetic and environmental manipulations were effective at generating differences in ovary phenotype between groups of worker bees. Our analysis found that environmental treatments, such as differences in pheromones and diet, had a larger mean effect on worker ovary activation scores than have genetic factors such as patriline or strain (g = 0.54 vs. 0.39). We conclude by discussing the biological significance of environmentally sensitive sterility in honey bee societies.

Honey bee queen mandibular pheromone inhibits ovary development and fecundity in a fruit fly

“…Any specific response from fly ovaries to this treatment would be consistent with the presence of a conserved, functionally responsive pathway. We predict that honey bee QMP will inhibit fly ovaries, consistent with how it functions in worker bees (Backx et al., ). Regardless of any direct effect on ovaries per se, we also test whether QMP delivered at an early stage in fly development affects the fly's realized fitness, as inferred from the number of offspring.…”

Hungry for the queen: Honeybee nutritional environment affects worker pheromone response in a life stage‐dependent manner

“…These hypotheses are supported by evidence that variation in ovariole number contributes to honeybee behavioural maturation and the division of labour (Wang, Kaftanoglu, Siegel, Page, & Amdam, ; Wang et al., ). Although worker ovariole number is affected by genotype (Makert, Paxton, & Hartfelder, ; Robinson, Page, & Fondrk, ), ovariole number is also highly affected by environmental factors (Backx, Guzman‐Novoa, & Thompson, ). For example, seasonal variation in nutritional availability influences ovariole number; workers that develop during periods of high pollen availability have higher ovariole number than those during pollen dearth (Hoover, Higo, & Winston, ).…”

From gene list to gene network: Recognizing functional connections that regulate behavioral traits

“…The biggest promoting factors of conditionally expressed sterility in adult worker bees are queen (Hoover, Keeling, Winston, & Slessor, ) and brood pheromone (Mohammedi, Paris, Crauser, & Le Conte, ), both of which trigger the widespread ovary deactivation and alloparental behavior within colonies (Backx, Guzmán‐Novoa, & Thompson, ; Traynor, Le Conte, & Page, ). The antiovarian response of workers to queen pheromone is accompanied by the dysregulation of dozens to hundreds of individual genes (Cardoen et al, ; Grozinger, Fan, Hoover, & Winston, ; Kocher, Ayroles, Stone, & Grozinger, ; Niu et al, ; Thompson, Kucharski, Maleszka, & Oldroyd, ) but the functional connections among these genes have seldom been studied.…”