Honeybee queen mandibular pheromone fails to regulate ovary activation in the common wasp

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cintia Akemi Oi
Keyword(s):  
Queen Mandibular Pheromone ◽  
Ovary Activation ◽  
Honeybee Queen ◽  
The Common

scholarly journals Cross-activity of honeybee queen mandibular pheromone in bumblebees provides evidence for sensory exploitation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A Princen ◽  
Annette Van Oystaeyen ◽  
Clément Petit ◽  
Jelle S van Zweden ◽  
Tom Wenseleers
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Sensory Exploitation ◽  
Queen Mandibular Pheromone ◽  
Ovary Activation ◽  
Honeybee Queen ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labor ◽  
Reproductive Division

Abstract The evolutionary origin of queen pheromones (QPs), which regulate reproductive division of labor in insect societies, has been explained by two evolutionary scenarios: the sender-precursor hypothesis and the sensory exploitation hypothesis. These scenarios differ in terms of whether the signaling system was built on preadaptations on the part of either the sender queens or the receiver workers. While some social insect QPs—such as cuticular hydrocarbons—were likely derived from ancestral fertility cues and evolved according to the former theory, the honeybee’s queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) has been suggested to act directly on preexisting gene-regulatory networks linked with reproduction. This is evidenced by the fact that QMP has been shown to also inhibit ovary activation in fruit flies, thereby implying exploitation of conserved physiological pathways. To verify whether QMP has similar effects on more closely related eusocial species, we here tested for QMP cross-activity in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Interestingly, we found that the non-native QMP blend significantly inhibited egg laying in both worker and queen bumblebees and caused accompanying shifts in ovary activation. The native bumblebee QP pentacosane, by contrast, only inhibited the reproduction of the workers. Overall, these findings support the hypothesis that honeybee QMP likely evolved via a route of sensory exploitation. We argue that such exploitation could allow social insect queens to produce compounds that manipulate the workers to remain sterile, but that a major hurdle would be that the queens themselves would have to be immune to such compounds.

scholarly journals Honeybee Queen mandibular pheromone induces starvation in Drosophila melanogaster, implying a role for nutrition signalling in the evolution of eusociality.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mackenzie R Lovegrove ◽  
Elizabeth J Duncan ◽  
Peter K Dearden
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Starvation Response ◽  
Queen Mandibular Pheromone ◽  
Honeybee Queen ◽  
Insect Societies ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labour ◽  
Evolution Of Eusociality ◽  
Reproductive Division ◽  
Behavioural Dominance

Eusocial insect societies are defined by the reproductive division of labour, a social structure that is generally enforced by the reproductive dominant or queen. Reproductive dominance is maintained through behavioural dominance in some species as well as production of queen pheromones in others, or a mixture of both. Queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) is produced by honeybee (Apis mellifera) queens and has been characterised chemically. How QMP acts to repress worker reproduction, and how it has evolved this activity, remains less well understood. Surprisingly, QMP is capable of repressing reproduction in non-target arthropods which have not co-evolved with QMP, are never exposed to QMP in nature, and are up to 530 million years diverged from the honeybee. Here we show that, in Drosophila melanogaster, QMP treatment mimics nutrient limiting conditions, leading to disrupted reproduction. Exposure to QMP induces an increase in food consumption, consistent with that observed in D. melanogaster in response to starvation conditions. This response induces the activation of two checkpoints within the ovary that inhibit oogenesis. The first is the 2a/b ovarian checkpoint in the germarium, which reduces the flow of presumptive oocytes. A stage 9 ovarian checkpoint is also activated, causing degradation of oocytes. The magnitude of activation of both checkpoints is indistinguishable between QMP treated and starved individuals. As QMP seems to trigger a starvation response in an insect highly diverged from honeybees, we propose that QMP originally evolved by co-opting nutrition signalling pathways to regulate reproduction, a key step in the evolution of eusociality.

scholarly journals Honeybees possess a structurally diverse and functionally redundant set of queen pheromones

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1905) ◽  
pp. 20190517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Princen ◽  
Ricardo Caliari Oliveira ◽  
Ulrich R. Ernst ◽  
Jocelyn G. Millar ◽  
Jelle S. van Zweden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Ovary Development ◽  
Mandibular Glands ◽  
Queen Mandibular Pheromone ◽  
Queen Pheromones ◽  
Honeybee Queen ◽  
Queen Signal ◽  
Insect Societies ◽  
Reproductive Division Of Labour ◽  
Reproductive Division

Queen pheromones, which signal the presence of a fertile queen and induce workers to remain sterile, play a key role in regulating reproductive division of labour in insect societies. In the honeybee, volatiles produced by the queen's mandibular glands have been argued to act as the primary sterility-inducing pheromones. This contrasts with evidence from other groups of social insects, where specific queen-characteristic hydrocarbons present on the cuticle act as conserved queen signals. This led us to hypothesize that honeybee queens might also employ cuticular pheromones to stop workers from reproducing. Here, we support this hypothesis with the results of bioassays with synthetic blends of queen-characteristic alkenes, esters and carboxylic acids. We show that all these compound classes suppress worker ovary development, and that one of the blends of esters that we used was as effective as the queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) mix. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the two main QMP compounds 9-ODA and 9-HDA tested individually were as effective as the blend of all four major QMP compounds, suggesting considerable signal redundancy. Possible adaptive reasons for the observed complexity of the honeybee queen signal mix are discussed.

scholarly journals Effects of juvenile hormone in fertility and fertility-signaling in workers of the common wasp Vespula vulgaris

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0250720
Author(s):  
Cintia Akemi Oi ◽  
Helena Mendes Ferreira ◽  
Rafael Carvalho da Silva ◽  
Andreas Bienstman ◽  
Fabio Santos do Nascimento ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Hormonal Regulation ◽  
Oocyte Size ◽  
Ovary Activation ◽  
Fertility Status ◽  
Honest Signals ◽  
Vespula Vulgaris ◽  
Eusocial Wasp ◽  
The Common ◽  
Fertility Signaling

In the highly eusocial wasp, Vespula vulgaris, queens produce honest signals to alert their subordinate workers of their fertility status, and therefore they are reproductively suppressed and help in the colony. The honesty of the queen signals is likely maintained due to hormonal regulation, which affects fertility and fertility cue expression. Here, we tested if hormonal pleiotropy could support the hypothesis that juvenile hormone controls fertility and fertility signaling in workers. In addition, we aimed to check oocyte size as a proxy of fertility. To do that, we treated V. vulgaris workers with synthetic versions of juvenile hormone (JH) analogue and a JH inhibitor, methoprene and precocene, respectively. We dissected the treated females to check ovary activation and analyzed their chemical profile. Our results showed that juvenile hormone has an influence on the abundance of fertility linked compounds produced by workers, and it also showed to increase oocyte size in workers. Our results corroborate the hypothesis that juvenile hormone controls fertility and fertility signaling in workers, whereby workers are unable to reproduce without alerting other colony members of their fertility. This provides supports the hypothesis that hormonal pleiotropy contributes to keeping the queen fertility signals honest.

Catalogue reduction techniques

1978 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 389-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chr. de Vegt
Keyword(s):  
Adjustment Process ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Measuring Process ◽  
Aerial Photogrammetry ◽  
Reduction Techniques ◽  
Observational Technique ◽  
The Common ◽  
Astrometric Data

AbstractReduction techniques as applied to astrometric data material tend to split up traditionally into at least two different classes according to the observational technique used, namely transit circle observations and photographic observations. Although it is not realized fully in practice at present, the application of a blockadjustment technique for all kind of catalogue reductions is suggested. The term blockadjustment shall denote in this context the common adjustment of the principal unknowns which are the positions, proper motions and certain reduction parameters modelling the systematic properties of the observational process. Especially for old epoch catalogue data we frequently meet the situation that no independent detailed information on the telescope properties and other instrumental parameters, describing for example the measuring process, is available from special calibration observations or measurements; therefore the adjustment process should be highly self-calibrating, that means: all necessary information has to be extracted from the catalogue data themselves. Successful applications of this concept have been made already in the field of aerial photogrammetry.

Renilla Bioluminescence: A Morphologic Approach to the Location of Photocytes

1974 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 208-209
Author(s):  
Ben O. Spurlock ◽  
Milton J. Cormier
Keyword(s):  
Excited State ◽  
Ground State ◽  
Molecular Basis ◽  
Light Emission ◽  
Chemical Basis ◽  
Electronic Excited State ◽  
Colonial Form ◽  
The Common ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Catalyzed Oxidation

The phenomenon of bioluminescence has fascinated layman and scientist alike for many centuries. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a number of observations were reported on the physiology of bioluminescence in Renilla, the common sea pansy. More recently biochemists have directed their attention to the molecular basis of luminosity in this colonial form. These studies have centered primarily on defining the chemical basis for bioluminescence and its control. It is now established that bioluminescence in Renilla arises due to the luciferase-catalyzed oxidation of luciferin. This results in the creation of a product (oxyluciferin) in an electronic excited state. The transition of oxyluciferin from its excited state to the ground state leads to light emission.

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