Vitellogenin content in fat body and ovary homogenates of workers and queens of Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides during vitellogenesis

Abstract

Vitellogenin (Vg) is an egg yolk protein that is produced primarily in the fat body of most female insects. In the advanced social structure of eusocial honeybees, the presence of the queen inhibits egg maturation in the workers’ ovaries. However in the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata, the workers always develop ovaries and lay a certain amount of eggs while provisioning the brood cells with larval food during what is known as the worker nurse phase. The present work is a comparative study of the presence of Vg in homogenates of the fat bodies and ovaries of the nurse workers, and the virgin and physogastric queens of M. quadrifasciata. The presence of Vg was determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting using Apis mellifera anti‐egg antibody. Vg was not detected in the fat bodies or ovaries of the workers, but it was found in the ovaries of virgin and physogastric queens and in the fat body of physogastric queens. The results are discussed, taking into account the reproductive state of the individuals and the other possible roles of Vg, such as a storage protein for metoabolism of other organs.

Maternal control over caste allocation in the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior

“…Workers do not have crystalline deposits in the egg stage (Figure 2), and small, randomly distributed deposits in larval stages (Figures 1, 3). In both castes, crystalline deposits may consist of urate crystals, which are usually stored in specialized cells, the urocytes, in the insect fat body [30], and which have been linked to nutrient storage in ant larvae [31] and oocyte development in termite reproductives [32].…”

A comparative protein profile of accessory glands of virgin and matedLeucinodes orbonalismales

“…Micro‐vitellogenin, a low‐molecular‐weight lipophorin protein (Maenaka & Park, 2018), is well documented in several insect species, such as Antheraea pernyi , Manduca sexta , H. zea , S. litura , A. mellifera , Lymantria dispar , and Amsacta albistriga (Chen & Yamashita, 1990; Raman, 2013; Liu et al ., 2015). Like vitellogenin, micro‐vitellin is also virtually synthesized by the fat body in females, secreted into the haemolymph, and then taken up by the maturing egg for development (Sato & Yamashita, 1991; Paes de Oliveira et al ., 2012). The micro‐vitellogenin protein from MAGs of L. orbonalis may also be transferred to females when mating, facilitating egg development.…”

Cytochemistry of fat body trophocytes and ovaries of workers and queens of Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) during vitellogenesis

“…The bee's yolk is primarily composed of proteins, but lipids and carbohydrates, mainly in the form of glycogen, are also present. There is a consensus that most insect species, including bees, the oocyte yolk is primarily composed of elements of exogenous origin that were captured by the ovarian cells from the hemolymph (Anderson,1964, 1971; Azevedo et al2011; Engelmann,1979; Giorgi and Mazzini,1986; Hagedorn and Kunkel,1979; King and Cassidy,1973; Paes‐de Oliveira et al2012; Roth and Porter,1964; Telfer,1961; Wallace and Bergenk,1974).…”