Department of Molecular Carcinogenesis, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Park Road 1C, Smithville, Texas 78957, USA.
EMBO Rep. 2011 Mar;12(3):238-43. doi: 10.1038/embor.2011.9. Epub 2011 Feb 18.
Worker and queen bees are genetically indistinguishable. However, queen bees are fertile, larger and have a longer lifespan than their female worker counterparts. Differential feeding of larvae with royal jelly controls this caste switching. There is emerging evidence that the queen-bee phenotype is driven by epigenetic mechanisms. In this study, we show that royal jelly--the secretion produced by the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of worker bees--has histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) activity. A fatty acid, (E)-10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10HDA), which accounts for up to 5% of royal jelly, harbours this HDACi activity. Furthermore, 10HDA can reactivate the expression of epigenetically silenced genes in mammalian cells. Thus, the epigenetic regulation of queen-bee development is probably driven, in part, by HDACi activity in royal jelly.
工蜂和蜂王在基因上无法区分。然而，蜂王具有生育能力，体型更大，寿命比其雌性工蜂长。幼虫用蜂王浆进行不同的喂养可以控制这种级型转换。有新的证据表明，蜂王表型是由表观遗传机制驱动的。在这项研究中，我们表明，蜂王浆——工蜂的下咽腺和下颌腺分泌的物质——具有组蛋白去乙酰化酶抑制剂 (HDACi) 的活性。一种脂肪酸，（E）-10-羟基-2-癸烯酸（10HDA），占蜂王浆的 5%，具有这种 HDACi 活性。此外，10HDA 可以使哺乳动物细胞中被表观遗传沉默的基因重新表达。因此，蜂王发育的表观遗传调控可能部分由蜂王浆中的 HDACi 活性驱动。
