Queen Pheromone Blocks Aversive Learning in Young Worker Bees

Vergoz, Vanina; Schreurs, Haley A.; Mercer, Alison R.

doi:10.1126/science.1142448

Cited by 100 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…(3) Exposure to a recently extinction-trained familiar mouse results in inhibition of extinction learning, an effect not mediated by an olfactory chemosignal emitted from a recently extinguished familiar mouse or by b-PEA. Similar to the ability of queen pheromone to impair aversive learning without modifying appetitive learning in adult bees (Vergoz et al 2007) and to context-specific olfactory steroid chemosignal regulation of mood in humans (Jacob and McClintock 2000), our data that suggest fear-or stressrelated social signals emitted by mice may influence associative learning depending on the valence of the task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Social modulation of associative fear learning by pheromone communication

Bredy¹,

Barad²

2008

Learn. Mem.

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Mice communicate through visual, vocal, and olfactory cues that influence innate, nonassociative behavior. We here report that exposure to a recently fear-conditioned familiar mouse impairs acquisition of conditioned fear and facilitates fear extinction, effects mimicked by both an olfactory chemosignal emitted by a recently fear-conditioned familiar mouse and by the putative stress-related anxiogenic pheromone b-phenylethylamine (b-PEA). Together, these findings suggest social modulation of higher-order cognitive processing through pheromone communication and support the concurrent excitor hypothesis of extinction learning.Social communication in mammals has evolved to facilitate reproductive behavior and for protection against environmental threat and predation. Mice communicate information about imminent danger through vocal (Seyfarth and Cheney 2003), visual (Kavaliers et al. 2001;Langford et al. 2006), and odor or pheromone cues (Rottman and Snowdon 1972), each with profound influences on defensive responding. There is also evidence of social empathy in mice (Langford et al. 2006). Mice will sensitize to pain-inducing stimuli simply by observing a conspecific that is currently experiencing pain. Importantly, sensitization occurs only when the conspecific is familiar with the observer (i.e., sibling or cage mate), a clear example of social modulation of an innate behavior. Müller-Velten (1966) provided the first evidence of a functional alarm chemosignal in mice by showing that animals would avoid a pathway in which the odor of a stressed mouse was present. Subsequent studies have shown effects of mammalian olfactory chemosignals on a variety of defensive behaviors such as analgesia, vigilance, and avoidance (Rottman and Snowdon 1972;Mackay-Sim and Laing 1981;Fanselow 1985;Zalaquett and Thiessen 1991). To date, research on social modulation of behavior has focused primarily on observational learning and innate or nonassociative processes. Two recent studies have demonstrated an influence of fear-related chemosignals on associative learning in humans (Chen et al. 2006;Prehn et al. 2006), evidence that supports the hypothesis that social modulation of behavior extends to higher-order cognitive processing.In the following experiments, we asked whether exposure to a familiar mouse recently fear conditioned or trained for fear extinction would influence associative fear learning in a conspecific. We find that exposure to a recently fear-conditioned mouse impairs acquisition of conditioned fear, while the same experience facilitates the extinction of conditioned fear; effects mimicked by exposure to an olfactory chemosignal emitted from fearconditioned mice and by the putative anxiogenic pheromone, bphenylethylamine (b-PEA). Interestingly, we find that exposure to a recently extinction-trained mouse results in an inhibition of fear extinction learning, an effect not related to an olfactory chemosignal emitted by a recently extinguished mouse or by exposure to b-PEA. These data suggest that mice communicate inform...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Social modulation of associative fear learning by pheromone communication

Bredy¹,

Barad²

2008

Learn. Mem.

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“…Levels of Amdop3 expression in the antennae decrease rapidly during the first week of adult life perhaps contributing to the well-documented decline in responsiveness to QMP with age. Vergoz et al (2007b) found that bees exposed to QMP for 4 to 6 days from the time of adult emergence were not able to associate an odour with an aversive stimulus suggesting that their ability to predict punishment was blocked. Interestingly, bees treated in the same way retained their ability to form appetitive olfactory memories.…”

Section: Qmp Affects Da Signalling In the Beementioning

confidence: 99%

“…One possible benefit to the queen of being able to block aversive learning in the young workers is that they will not associate the queen with any unpleasant effects of high concentrations of her pheromone. In contrast to young bees, bees of foraging age appear to be repelled by QMP (Vergoz et al 2007b), and potentially also by nurses (see Fan et al 2010) and perhaps even the queen herself. Fan and colleagues have recently shown that QMP exposure alters patterns of cuticular hydrocarbons in worker bees (Fan et al 2010) and that nurses and foragers differ in their cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, probably because they are exposed to different levels of QMP.…”

Section: Qmp Affects Da Signalling In the Beementioning

confidence: 99%

Queen mandibular pheromone: questions that remain to be resolved

Jarriault

Mercer

2012

Apidologie

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-The discovery of 'queen substance', and the subsequent identification and synthesis of key components of queen mandibular pheromone, has been of significant importance to beekeepers and to the beekeeping industry. Fifty years on, there is greater appreciation of the importance and complexity of queen pheromones, but many mysteries remain about the mechanisms through which pheromones operate. The discovery of sex pheromone communication in moths occurred within the same time period, but in this case, intense pressure to find better means of pest management resulted in a remarkable focusing of research activity on understanding pheromone detection mechanisms and the central processing of pheromone signals in the moth. We can benefit from this work and here, studies on moths are used to highlight some of the gaps in our knowledge of pheromone communication in bees. A better understanding of pheromone communication in honey bees promises improved strategies for the successful management of these extraordinary animals.queen mandibular pheromone / Apis mellifera / olfactory system / biogenic amines / juvenile hormone / ecdysteroids

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“…Pheromones are a class of environmental cues that are known to exert profound effects in insect brains (Grozinger et al, 2003Alaux and Robinson, 2007;Beggs et al, 2007;Grozinger and Robinson, 2007;Vergoz et al, 2007). In mice, odors from soiled bedding of dominant males have been shown to stimulate neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb and the hippocampus of adult females (Mak et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%