Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Box 7614, Raleigh 27695, USA.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2011 Sep;197(9):939-48. doi: 10.1007/s00359-011-0654-5. Epub 2011 May 31.
Responses to social cues, such as pheromones, can be modified by genotype, physiology, or environmental context. Honey bee queens produce a pheromone (queen mandibular pheromone; QMP) which regulates aspects of worker bee behavior and physiology. Forager bees are less responsive to QMP than young bees engaged in brood care, suggesting that physiological changes associated with behavioral maturation modulate response to this pheromone. Since 3',5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is a major regulator of behavioral maturation in workers, we examined its role in modulating worker responses to QMP. Treatment with a cGMP analog resulted in significant reductions in both behavioral and physiological responses to QMP in young caged workers. Treatment significantly reduced attraction to QMP and inhibited the QMP-mediated increase in vitellogenin RNA levels in the fat bodies of worker bees. Genome-wide analysis of brain gene expression patterns demonstrated that cGMP has a larger effect on expression levels than QMP, and that QMP has specific effects in the presence of cGMP, suggesting that some responses to QMP may be dependent on an individual bees' physiological state. Our data suggest that cGMP-mediated processes play a role in modulating responses to QMP in honey bees at the behavioral, physiological, and molecular levels.
对社会线索（如信息素）的反应可以通过基因型、生理或环境背景来修饰。蜂王会产生一种信息素（蜂王下颚腺信息素；QMP），它调节工蜂行为和生理的各个方面。与从事幼虫护理的年轻蜜蜂相比，采集蜜蜂对 QMP 的反应较低，这表明与行为成熟相关的生理变化调节了对这种信息素的反应。由于 3'，5'-环鸟苷单磷酸（cGMP）是工蜂行为成熟的主要调节剂，我们研究了它在调节工蜂对 QMP 的反应中的作用。用 cGMP 类似物处理会导致年轻笼养工蜂对 QMP 的行为和生理反应显著降低。处理显著降低了对 QMP 的吸引力，并抑制了 QMP 介导的工蜂脂肪体中卵黄蛋白原 RNA 水平的增加。大脑基因表达模式的全基因组分析表明，cGMP 对表达水平的影响大于 QMP，并且 QMP 在 cGMP 存在时有特定的影响，这表明对 QMP 的一些反应可能取决于个体蜜蜂的生理状态。我们的数据表明，cGMP 介导的过程在行为、生理和分子水平上在调节蜜蜂对 QMP 的反应中发挥作用。
