Honeybee workers with higher reproductive potential live longer lives

Kuszewska, Karolina; Miler, Krzysztof; Rojek, Wiktoria; Woyciechowski, Michał

doi:10.1016/j.exger.2017.08.022

Cited by 23 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…All colonies were treated in the same way, and the experimental design was previously described by Woyciechowski and Kuszewska (2012) as well as in other papers (i.a. Kuszewska et al 2017Kuszewska et al , 2018bWoyciechowski et al 2017). At the beginning of the experiment, the queen was restricted to two experimental frames to produce eggs of a similar age (day 0).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The evolutionary explanation for this life strategy of honeybee workers is based on the assumption of inclusive fitness theory (Hamilton 1964) and connected with the dramatic drop in relatedness between old-generation workers and the new queen's offspring (Woyciechowski and Kuszewska 2012). Subsequent research has shown that rebel workers are also characterised by longer lives (Kuszewska et al 2017), and they initiate foraging trips later than normal workers. Moreover, they usually prefer to collect nectar over pollen, and the nectar they collect is of higher volume and more concentrated than is the nectar collected by normal workers (Kuszewska et al 2018a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Honeybee rebel workers preferentially respond to high concentrations of sucrose

2019

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The honeybee is one of several eusocial species with a complex set of anatomical, physiological, and behavioural traits that are correlated with foraging preferences. Sensory sensitivity to sucrose is associated with the foraging preferences of workers, with individuals that are less sensitive to sugar preferring to forage for nectar and those that are highly sensitive to sucrose preferring to forage for pollen. In this study, we test this hypothesis by comparing the sucrose responsiveness of genetically similar normal and rebel honeybee workers, which present different foraging preferences. We found that rebels, which prefer to forage for nectar and have a higher reproductive potential than normal workers, are characterised by sucrose sensitivity that is lower than that of normal workers. Moreover, we show that in both rebel and normal workers, sensitivity to sugar in nectar is lower in workers when their ovaries contain more ovarioles. The results confirm the prediction that bees present a foraging preference depending on their response thresholds to sucrose in solution. However, compared with previous studies, our investigation does not support the assumption that reproductive workers are more sensitive to sucrose concentrations in nectar.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honeybee rebel workers preferentially respond to high concentrations of sucrose

2019

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“…The ovaries of the frozen workers were dissected and examined under a stereomicroscope. The ovarioles in both ovaries were counted followed by an assessment of ovary development using similar methods to those of previous studies (e.g., Woyciechowski & Kuszewska, ; Kuszewska et al, ). For analysis of ovary development, the most developed ovariole from each ovary was selected, and the maximum diameters of these two ovarioles (maximum width) were measured as described by Nakaoka, Takeuchi, and Kubo (), who reported that ovariole diameter accurately reflects ovarian activity.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…“Rebel worker” honeybees (Kuszewska & Woyciechowski, ; Kuszewska, Miler, Rojek, & Woyciechowski, ; Woyciechowski & Kuszewska, ) may shed some light on this question. Rebel workers are have higher reproductive potential because they have significantly more ovarioles in their ovaries than do normal workers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rebel honeybee workers have a tendency to become intraspecific reproductive parasites

Kuszewska

Miler

Rojek

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Worker honeybees may reproduce in either their own or foreign colonies; the latter situation is termed intraspecific reproductive parasitism (IRP). In this study, we compared the tendency for IRP between normal honeybee workers, which are characterized by a relatively low reproductive potential, and “rebel workers”, a recently discovered subcaste of honeybee workers characterized by a high reproductive potential that develops when the colony is without a queen. We expected that the high reproductive potential of the rebel workers would influence their reproductive strategy and that these individuals would drift to other colonies to lay eggs more often than normal workers. The results confirm our expectations and show that rebel workers are more likely than normal workers to drift to foreign colonies. The rebel workers also preferred to drift to queenless colonies than to queenright colonies, while the normal workers did not show this preference. This study indicates that rebel workers have a tendency for IRP, which may be responsible for the maintenance of the rebel worker strategy in bee populations.

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“…In the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior, mating appears to incur no cost in terms of longevity, as mated queens live longer than virgin queens (Schrempf, Heinze, and Cremer 2005), and enforced changes in egg-laying rate do not affect the longevity of queens (Schrempf et al 2017). Moreover, in honeybees, workers which develop under queenless conditions have higher reproductive potential and also live longer than workers developing in queenright colonies, thus seemingly circumventing the trade-off between fecundity and longevity (Kuszewska et al 2017).…”

Section: Remoulding Of the Fecundity/longevity Trade-off In Eusocial mentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptomic signatures of ageing vary in solitary and social forms of an orchid bee

Séguret

Stolle

Fleites-Ayil

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Eusocial insect queens are remarkable in their ability to maximise both fecundity and longevity, thus escaping the typical trade-off between these two traits. In species exhibiting complex eusocial behaviour, several mechanisms have been proposed to underlie the remoulding of the trade-off, such as reshaping of the juvenile hormone pathway, or caste-specific susceptibility to oxidative stress. However, it remains a challenge to disentangle the molecular mechanisms underlying the remoulding of the trade-off in eusocial insects from caste-specific physiological attributes that have subsequently arisen due to their different life histories. Socially plastic species such as the orchid bee Euglossa viridissima represent excellent models to address the role of sociality per se in longevity as they allow direct comparisons of solitary and social individuals within a common genetic background. We present data on gene expression and juvenile hormone levels from young and old bees, from both solitary and social nests. We found 940 genes to be differentially expressed with age in solitary females, versus only 14 genes in social dominant females, and seven genes in subordinate females. We performed a weighted gene co-expression network analysis to further highlight candidate genes related to ageing in this species. Primary “ageing gene” candidates were related to protein synthesis, gene expression, immunity and venom production. Remarkably, juvenile hormone titres did not vary with age or social status. These results represent an important step in understanding the proximate mechanisms underlying the remodeling of the fecundity/longevity trade-off that accompanies the evolutionary transition from solitary life to eusociality.Significance statementThe remarkably long lifespan of the queens of eusocial insects despite their high reproductive output suggests that they are not subject to the widespread trade-off between fecundity and longevity that governs solitary animal life histories, yet surprisingly little is known of the molecular mechanisms underpinning their longevity. Using a socially plastic bee in which some individuals of a population are social whilst others are solitary, we identified hundreds of candidate genes and related gene networks that are involved in the remoulding of the fecundity/longevity tradeoff. As well as identifying candidate ageing genes, our data suggest that even in incipient stages of sociality there is a marked reprogramming of ageing; long live the queen.

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Honeybee workers with higher reproductive potential live longer lives

Cited by 23 publications

References 21 publications

Honeybee rebel workers preferentially respond to high concentrations of sucrose

Honeybee rebel workers preferentially respond to high concentrations of sucrose

Rebel honeybee workers have a tendency to become intraspecific reproductive parasites

Transcriptomic signatures of ageing vary in solitary and social forms of an orchid bee

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