Kuszewska Karolina, Woyciechowski Michal
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
PLoS One. 2015 Apr 16;10(4):e0123404. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123404. eCollection 2015.
In the honeybee, diploid larvae fed with royal jelly develop into reproductive queens, whereas larvae fed with royal jelly for three days only and subsequently with honey and pollen develop into facultatively sterile workers. A recent study showed that worker larvae fed in a queenless colony develop into another female polyphenic form: rebel workers. These rebel workers are more queenlike and have greater reproductive potential than normal workers. However, it was unclear whether larvae orphaned at any time during their feeding period can develop into rebels. To answer this question, the anatomical features of newly emerged workers reared in queenless conditions at different ages during the larval period were evaluated. Our results showed that larvae orphaned during the final four or more days of their feeding life develop into rebel workers with more ovarioles in their ovaries, smaller hypopharyngeal glands, and larger mandibular and Dufour's glands compared with typical workers with low reproductive potential that were reared with a queen or orphaned at the third to last or a later day of feeding life.
在蜜蜂中，食用蜂王浆的二倍体幼虫发育成具有生殖能力的蜂王，而仅食用三天蜂王浆，随后食用蜂蜜和花粉的幼虫则发育成兼性不育的工蜂。最近的一项研究表明，在无蜂王蜂群中饲养的工蜂幼虫会发育成另一种雌性多型形态：叛逆工蜂。这些叛逆工蜂比正常工蜂更具蜂王特征，且具有更大的生殖潜力。然而，尚不清楚在幼虫喂养期的任何时候成为孤儿的幼虫是否会发育成叛逆工蜂。为了回答这个问题，我们评估了在幼虫期不同年龄于无蜂王条件下饲养的新羽化工蜂的解剖特征。我们的结果表明，在喂养期最后四天或更长时间成为孤儿的幼虫会发育成叛逆工蜂，与在有蜂王情况下饲养或在喂养期倒数第三天或更晚成为孤儿的、生殖潜力较低的典型工蜂相比，它们的卵巢中有更多的卵巢小管，下咽腺更小，颚腺和杜氏腺更大。
