Nutrition-related regulation of the nurse-forager transition in honeybees
Final Report Abstract
Our project aimed at understanding the role of candidate genes and larval nutrition on the timing of the transition from nursing behavior to foraging behavior in honeybees and related physiological parameters. Our results suggest that the activation of our candidate genes AmoctαR1 and Amfor rather than changes in the mRNA expression of these genes or of the candidate gene Amtar1 are causally linked to the nurse-forager transition. Our quantification of the developmental hormone juvenile hormone and the egg yolk precursor vitellogenin in small time windows around the nurse forager transition also question the generally assumed causal role of these in the nurse-forager transition. We suggest that changes in these genes and hormones are a result of the behavioral transition rather than their cause. In addition, we hypothesize that activation of the octopamine receptor AmOCTαR1 or of the PKG protein, which is encoded by our candidate gene Amfor, may elicit the nurse-forager transition by manipulation of sensory response thresholds, thereby supporting the response threshold theory of division of labor. This theory states that social organization of honeybees is regulated by changes in sensory response thresholds for stimuli which elicit certain tasks. To our 10 surprise, the nurse-forager transition appears to be unaffected by larval diet. Undernourishment or overfeeding of larvae had no effect on the timing of the nurse-forager transition, although it had long-term effects on the weights of the respective bees as adults.
Publications
- Antagonistic functions of the biogenic amines octopamine and tyramine on honeybee vision. IUSSI meeting August 2018
Felix Schilcher
- Regulation of the nurse-forager transition in honeybees. Rauischholzhausen Mai 2018
Felix Schilcher
- Studying social organization in individual in-vitro raised honeybees. Jahrestagung der Bieneninstitute März 2019
Felix Schilcher
- 2020. Chronic exposure to the pesticide flupyradifurone can lead to premature onset of foraging in honeybees (Apis mellifera). Journal of Applied Ecology. 57: 609–618
Hesselbach H, Seeger J, Schilcher F, Ankenbrand M, Scheiner R
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13555) - 2021. Opposing actions of octopamine and tyramine on honeybee vision. Biomolecules. 11(9), 1374
Schilcher F, Thamm M, Strube-Bloss M, Scheiner R
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11091374) - 2022. In-vitro rearing changes social task performance and physiology in honeybees. Insects 2022, 13, 4
Schilcher F, Hilsmann L, Rauscher L, Değirmenci L, Krischke M, Krischke B, Ankenbrand M, Rutschmann B, Mueller MJ, Steffan-Dewenter I, Scheiner R
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13010004)
