scholarly journals Honey bee (Apis mellifera) larval pheromones regulate gene expression related to foraging task specialization

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Ma ◽  
J Rangel ◽  
CM Grozinger
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Foraging Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Task Specialization ◽  
Brain Gene Expression ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Foraging Task

AbstractBackgroundForaging behavior in honey bees (Apis mellifera) is a complex phenotype which is regulated by physiological state and social signals. How these factors are integrated at the molecular level to modulate foraging behavior has not been well-characterized. The transition of worker bees from nursing to foraging behavior is mediated by large-scale changes in brain gene expression, which are influenced by pheromones produced by the queen and larvae. Larval pheromones can also stimulate foragers to leave the colony to collect pollen, but the mechanisms underpinning this rapid behavioral plasticity are unknown. Furthermore, the mechanisms through which foragers specialize on collecting nectar or pollen, and how larval pheromones impact these different behavioral states, remains to be determined. Here, we investigated the patterns of gene expression related to rapid behavioral plasticity and task allocation among honey bee foragers exposed to two larval pheromones, brood pheromone (BP) and (E)-beta-ocimene (EBO).ResultsWe hypothesized that both pheromones would alter expression of genes in the brain related to foraging and would differentially impact expression of genes in the brains of pollen compared to nectar foragers. Combining data reduction, clustering, and network analysis methods, we found that foraging preference (nectar vs. pollen) and pheromone exposure are each associated with specific brain gene expression profiles. Furthermore, pheromone exposure has a strong transcriptional effect on genes that are preferentially expressed in nectar foragers. Representation factor analysis between our study and previous landmark honey bee transcriptome studies revealed significant overlaps for both pheromone communication and foraging task specialization.ConclusionsSocial signals (i.e. pheromones) may invoke foraging-related genes to upregulate pollen foraging at both long and short time scales. These results provide new insights into how social signals integrate with task specialization at the molecular level and highlights the important role that brain gene expression plays in behavioral plasticity across time scales.

scholarly journals Maternal Nematode Infection Upregulates Expression of Th2/Treg and Diapedesis Related Genes In The Neonatal Brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nawal El Ahdab ◽  
Manjurul Haque ◽  
Kristine G. Koski ◽  
Marilyn E. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Nematode Infection ◽  
Maternal Infection ◽  
Neonatal Brain ◽  
Brain Gene Expression ◽  
Intestinal Nematode ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Endothelial Migration ◽  
Related Proteins

Abstract Intestinal nematode infections common during pregnancy have recently been shown to have impacts that extend to their uninfected offspring including altered brain gene expression. If maternal immune signals reach the neonatal brain, they might alter neuroimmune development. We explored expression of genes associated with four distinct types of T cells (Th1, Th2, Th17, Treg) and with leukocyte trans-endothelial migration and endocytosis transport across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in the postnatal brain of offspring of nematode-infected mice, through secondary analysis of a whole brain gene expression database. Th1/Th17 expression was lowered by maternal infection as evidenced by down-regulated expression of IL-1β, Th1 receptors and related proteins, and of IL22 and several Th17 genes associated immunopathology. In contrast, Th2/Treg related pathways were upregulated as shown by higher expression of IL-4 and TGF-β family genes. Maternal infection also upregulated expression of pathways and integrin genes involved in transport of leukocytes in between endothelial cells but downregulated endosome vesicle formation related genes that are necessary for endocytosis of immunoglobulins across the BBB. Taken together, pup brain gene expression indicates that maternal nematode infection enhanced movement of leukocytes across the neonatal BBB and promoted a Th2/Treg environment that presumably minimizes the proinflammatory Th1 response in the pup brain.

scholarly journals Maternal nematode infection upregulates expression of Th2/Treg and diapedesis related genes in the neonatal brain

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nawal El Ahdab ◽  
Manjurul Haque ◽  
Ejimedo Madogwe ◽  
Kristine G. Koski ◽  
Marilyn E. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Nematode Infection ◽  
Maternal Infection ◽  
Neonatal Brain ◽  
Brain Gene Expression ◽  
Intestinal Nematode ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Leukocyte Transendothelial Migration ◽  
Related Proteins

AbstractIntestinal nematode infections common during pregnancy have recently been shown to have impacts that extend to their uninfected offspring including altered brain gene expression. If maternal immune signals reach the neonatal brain, they might alter neuroimmune development. We explored expression of genes associated with four distinct types of T cells (Th1, Th2, Th17, Treg) and with leukocyte transendothelial migration and endocytosis transport across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) in the postnatal brain of offspring of nematode-infected mice, through secondary analysis of a whole brain gene expression database. Th1/Th17 expression was lowered by maternal infection as evidenced by down-regulated expression of IL1β, Th1 receptors and related proteins, and of IL22 and several Th17 genes associated with immunopathology. In contrast, Th2/Treg related pathways were upregulated as shown by higher expression of IL4 and TGF-β family genes. Maternal infection also upregulated expression of pathways and integrin genes involved in transport of leukocytes in between endothelial cells but downregulated endosome vesicle formation related genes that are necessary for endocytosis of immunoglobulins across the BBB. Taken together, pup brain gene expression indicates that maternal nematode infection enhanced movement of leukocytes across the neonatal BBB and promoted a Th2/Treg environment that presumably minimizes the proinflammatory Th1 response in the pup brain.

scholarly journals Sex-specific molecular specialization and activity rhythm dependent gene expression changes in honey bee antennae

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rikesh Jain ◽  
Axel Brockmann
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Clock Genes ◽  
Activity Rhythm ◽  
Neuronal Communication ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Pheromone Concentration ◽  
Olfactory Receptor Genes

ABSTRACTEusocial insects, like honey bees, which show an elaborate division of labor involving morphologically and physiologically specialized phenotypes provide a unique toolkit to study molecular underpinnings of behavior as well as neural processing. In this study, we performed an extensive RNA-seq based comparison of gene expression levels in the antennae of honey bee drones and foragers collected at different time of days and activity states to identify molecules involved in peripheral olfactory processing and provide insights into distinct strategies in sensory processing. First, honey bee drone and worker antennae differ in the number of olfactory receptor genes (ORs) showing a biased expression pattern. Only 19 Ors were higher expressed in drone antennae, whereas 54 Ors were higher expressed in workers. Second, drone antennae showed predominant higher expression of genes involved in energy metabolism, and worker antennae showed a higher expression of genes involved in neuronal communication. Third, drones and afternoon-trained foragers showed similar daily changes in the expression of major clock genes, per and cry2. Most of the other genes showing changes with the onset of daily activity were specific to drones and foragers suggesting sex-specific circadian changes in antennae. Drone antennae are specialized to detect small amounts of queen’s pheromone and quickly respond to changes in pheromone concentration involving energetically costly action potentials, whereas forager antennae are predominantly involved in behavioral context dependent detection and discrimination of complex odor mixtures which requires mechanisms of sensory filtering and neural plasticity.

scholarly journals Conservation, acquisition, and functional impact of sex-biased gene expression in mammals

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 365 (6450) ◽  
pp. eaaw7317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahin Naqvi ◽  
Alexander K. Godfrey ◽  
Jennifer F. Hughes ◽  
Mary L. Goodheart ◽  
Richard N. Mitchell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Human Sex Differences ◽  
Careful Attention ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Genomic Analyses ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Sex Biases

Sex differences abound in human health and disease, as they do in other mammals used as models. The extent to which sex differences are conserved at the molecular level across species and tissues is unknown. We surveyed sex differences in gene expression in human, macaque, mouse, rat, and dog, across 12 tissues. In each tissue, we identified hundreds of genes with conserved sex-biased expression—findings that, combined with genomic analyses of human height, explain ~12% of the difference in height between females and males. We surmise that conserved sex biases in expression of genes otherwise operating equivalently in females and males contribute to sex differences in traits. However, most sex-biased expression arose during the mammalian radiation, which suggests that careful attention to interspecies divergence is needed when modeling human sex differences.

scholarly journals Individual differences in honey bee behavior enabled by plasticity in brain gene regulatory networks

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beryl M Jones ◽  
Vikyath D Rao ◽  
Tim Gernat ◽  
Tobias Jagla ◽  
Amy C Cash-Ahmed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Chromatin Accessibility ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Reproductive Behaviors ◽  
Brain Gene Expression ◽  
Gene Regulatory

Understanding the regulatory architecture of phenotypic variation is a fundamental goal in biology, but connections between gene regulatory network (GRN) activity and individual differences in behavior are poorly understood. We characterized the molecular basis of behavioral plasticity in queenless honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies, where individuals engage in both reproductive and non-reproductive behaviors. Using high-throughput behavioral tracking, we discovered these colonies contain a continuum of phenotypes, with some individuals specialized for either egg-laying or foraging and ‘generalists’ that perform both. Brain gene expression and chromatin accessibility profiles were correlated with behavioral variation, with generalists intermediate in behavior and molecular profiles. Models of brain GRNs constructed for individuals revealed that transcription factor (TF) activity was highly predictive of behavior, and behavior-associated regulatory regions had more TF motifs. These results provide new insights into the important role played by brain GRN plasticity in the regulation of behavior, with implications for social evolution.

scholarly journals Molecular heterochrony and the evolution of sociality in bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris )

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1780) ◽  
pp. 20132419 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hollis Woodard ◽  
Guy M. Bloch ◽  
Mark R. Band ◽  
Gene E. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Microarray Platform ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Brain Gene Expression ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Sibling Care

Sibling care is a hallmark of social insects, but its evolution remains challenging to explain at the molecular level. The hypothesis that sibling care evolved from ancestral maternal care in primitively eusocial insects has been elaborated to involve heterochronic changes in gene expression. This elaboration leads to the prediction that workers in these species will show patterns of gene expression more similar to foundress queens, who express maternal care behaviour, than to established queens engaged solely in reproductive behaviour. We tested this idea in bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) using a microarray platform with approximately 4500 genes. Unlike the wasp Polistes metricus , in which support for the above prediction has been obtained, we found that patterns of brain gene expression in foundress and queen bumblebees were more similar to each other than to workers. Comparisons of differentially expressed genes derived from this study and gene lists from microarray studies in Polistes and the honeybee Apis mellifera yielded a shared set of genes involved in the regulation of related social behaviours across independent eusocial lineages. Together, these results suggest that multiple independent evolutions of eusociality in the insects might have involved different evolutionary routes, but nevertheless involved some similarities at the molecular level.

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