Identification of a brood pheromone in honeybees

Conte, Yves Le; Arnold, Gérard; Trouiller, J.; Masson, C.; Chappe, B.

doi:10.1007/bf01138390

Cited by 163 publications

(129 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…In honeybees, this is mainly controlled through effective communication between the queen and workers in the colony. The honeybee colony provides a locale in which cues, ranging from the temperature produced by active workers in the brood nest (Basile et al, 2008) to brood pheromones emitted by the open brood (Le Conte et al, 1990) and glandular secretions (especially those from the mandibular glands relating to reproductive dominance Crewe and Velthuis, 1980), can interact and determine responses by the members of the colony.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mandibular gland pheromone contents in workers and queens of Apis mellifera adansonii

2015

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-Secretions from the mandibular glands of honeybees have been studied extensively, with those of queens dominated by ώ-9 fatty acids and ώ-10 fatty acids dominating those of non-laying workers. Apis mellifera adansonii (Latreille) is one of the widely distributed subspecies of African honeybees. However, its mandibular gland pheromones have not been analysed previously. Using gas chromatography, we analysed the composition of mandibular gland pheromones in workers and queens of A. mellifera adansonii from Nigeria. Qualitatively, workers and queens have similar pheromone profiles to those previously reported in other African subspecies of honeybees. We found 9-ODA and high amounts of its precursor 9-hydroxy-2 (E )-decenoic acid (9-HDA) in workers, thus showing that they produce queen-like signals under queen-right conditions. We also found geographic variation in the pheromone profiles and morphometric characters of these workers, suggesting different pheromone and morphoclusters from the different ecological and climatological regions inhabited by A. m. adansonii in Nigeria.African honeybees / queen-right / mandibular gland secretions / pheromone clusters / morphoclusters

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mandibular gland pheromone contents in workers and queens of Apis mellifera adansonii

2015

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“…The inactive ovaries of workers impair egg production; however, under specific circumstances, their ovaries can be activated and oocytes begin to grow, resulting in the production of haploid eggs that will give rise to drones. Pheromones from egg-laying queens (Butler et al, 1961;Slessor et al, 1988Slessor et al, , 1990Winston et al, 1989Winston et al, , 1990, and also signals from larvae (Kropáková and Haslbachová, 1971;Le Conte et al, 1990), suppress follicle development in worker ovaries (Velthuis et al, 1990). Aging or death of the queen, and the consequent decrease in the amount of developing brood, elicit physiological changes leading to ovary activation in workers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary dopamine causes ovary activation in queenless Apis mellifera workers

2003

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-Groups of young honey bee workers were fed a diet containing dopamine while confined in small cages at 34°C and 80% RH in absence of a queen for 8 to 13 days. The bees in eight pairs of cages, each pair containing an equal number of workers, received a pollen-rich diet supplemented with dopamine (10 µg/g of diet) (DOP groups), or not supplemented (controls). The rate of consumption of the diet was monitored continuously during the confinement period, after which the workers were dissected to assess follicle development in the ovaries. The results showed a significantly higher proportion (P = 0.004) of workers with activated ovaries in the DOP groups than in control groups. The number of bees surviving confinement was significantly higher in the control groups than in the DOP groups (P ≤ 0.01), possibly reflecting a deleterious effect of dopamine. The surviving bees from both groups consumed equivalent amounts of diet (P = 0.687), showing that ovary activation was not due to differential diet consumption. The results suggest a role of dopamine in the chain of events mediating changes in the reproductive status of orphan honey bee workers. Apis mellifera / honeybees / dopamine / ovary activation

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“…Not only is ovarian development of workers influenced by queen primer pheromones but brood pheromones also regulate this process [2,36]. Queenless workers exposed to brood, particularly uncapped brood, show very little ovarian development [25,26,29,30,35].…”

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confidence: 99%

Honeybee queen tergal gland secretion affects ovarian development in caged workers

Wossler

Crewe

1999

Apidologie

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-The inhibitory effects of honeybee queen tergal gland secretion on worker ovarian development was studied using a laboratory bioassay with the honeybee races Apis mellifera capensis and A. m. scutellata. Glass pseudoqueens were treated with daily doses of tergal gland extracts from virgin queens and exposed to queenless experimental groups of caged workers. The control groups of queenless caged workers were exposed to solvent controls. Analysis using loglinear models showed that there were no interactions between treatment, race and cage, with respect to the frequency of developing ovaries. The response was homogeneous among cages and among the two races. The virgin queen tergal gland extracts of both A. m. capensis and A. m. scutellata inhibited ovarian development in their own workers (χ 2 = 8.28; df = 1; P = 0.004). These results indicate that the secretion from the tergal glands can operate as a primer pheromone. © Inra/DIB/AGIB/Elsevier, Paris Apis mellifera / worker reproduction / ovarian development / queen pheromone

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Identification of a brood pheromone in honeybees

Cited by 163 publications

References 6 publications

Mandibular gland pheromone contents in workers and queens of Apis mellifera adansonii

Mandibular gland pheromone contents in workers and queens of Apis mellifera adansonii

Dietary dopamine causes ovary activation in queenless Apis mellifera workers

Honeybee queen tergal gland secretion affects ovarian development in caged workers

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