Reproductive potential does not cause loss of heat shock response performance in honey bees

Abstract

In other species characterized to date, aging, as a function of reproductive potential, results in the breakdown of proteaostasis and a decreased capacity to mount responses by the heat shock response (HSR) and other proteostatic network pathways. Our understanding of the maintenance of stress pathways, such as the HSR, in honey bees, and in the reproductive queen in particular, is incomplete. Based on the findings in other species showing an inverse relationship between reproductive potential and HSR function, one might predict that that HSR function would be lost in the reproductive queens. However, as queens possess an atypical uncoupling of the reproduction-maintenance trade-off typically found in solitary organisms, HSR maintenance might also be expected. Here we demonstrate that reproductive potential does not cause loss of HSR performance in honey bees as queens induce target gene expression to levels comparable to those induced in attendant worker bees. Maintenance of HSR function with advent of reproductive potential is unique among invertebrates studied to date and provides a potential model for examining the molecular mechanisms regulating the uncoupling of the reproduction-maintenance trade-off in queen bees, with important consequences for understanding how stresses impact different types of individuals in honey bee colonies.

Mating-Induced Trade-Offs upon Egg Production versus Fertilization and Offspring’s Survival in a Sawfly with Facultative Parthenogenesis

“…Reproduction associated heat shock responses are inconsistent in different species, which is downregulated after the onset of reproduction in C. elegans [4] while in honey bees, increased reproduction did not cause loss of heat shock response in the reproductive queen [3]. In B. tabaci, mating led to the upregulation of Hsp68 and Hsp70 genes at different time points in mated females [20].…”

“…In honey bees, however, increased reproduction did not cause loss of heat shock response in the reproductive queen [3]. Therefore, honey bee queens may possess an atypical uncoupling of the reproduction-maintenance trade-off, in which stress response may be maintained during reproduction [3]. Therefore, study on the trade-offs between reproduction and survival in different mating systems by using methods that can more comprehensively examine various indicators (such as high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics) will provide deeper insights in this field.…”

“…In C. elegans, the heat shock response was inhibited at the onset of reproduction, probably due to competing requirements of the germline and soma [4]. In honey bees, however, increased reproduction did not cause loss of heat shock response in the reproductive queen [3]. Therefore, honey bee queens may possess an atypical uncoupling of the reproduction-maintenance trade-off, in which stress response may be maintained during reproduction [3].…”

“…Trade-offs between reproduction and survivorship is the central theme in evolutionary biology of senescence. Negative relationships between reproduction and survivorship are Insects 2021, 12, 693 2 of 18 often observed in organisms, in which increased fecundity may cause costs on somatic maintenance (such as immunity and stress responses) and longevity [1][2][3][4]. The resources allocation model suggests that the trade-offs between reproduction and survival is likely due to alternative allocation of limiting energetic resources because both reproduction and soma maintenance are energetically costly [1,5].…”

Mating-Induced Common and Sex-Specific Behavioral, Transcriptional Changes in the Moth Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, Noctuidae, Lepidoptera) in Laboratory

“…These studies on different insect species, based on depth sequencing and bioinformatics, have provided further insights in this field. In addition, some of these studies also showed that mating may trigger trade-offs between reproduction and soma maintenance (such as immunity, stress response, DNA/protein repair and longevity) [ 39 , 40 ]. For instance, a recent study in S. litura , based on female whole-body RNA sequencing (RNAseq) analysis, found that mating may induce a trade-off between immunity and reproduction [ 41 ].…”