Mao Wenfu, Schuler Mary A, Berenbaum May R
Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801-3795, USA.
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Sci Adv. 2015 Aug 28;1(7):e1500795. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1500795. eCollection 2015 Aug.
In the eusocial honey bee Apis mellifera, with reproductive queens and sterile workers, a female larva's developmental fate depends on its diet; nurse bees feed queen-destined larvae exclusively royal jelly, a glandular secretion, but worker-destined larvae receive royal jelly for 3 days and subsequently jelly to which honey and beebread are added. RNA-Seq analysis demonstrated that p-coumaric acid, which is ubiquitous in honey and beebread, differentially regulates genes involved in caste determination. Rearing larvae in vitro on a royal jelly diet to which p-coumaric acid has been added produces adults with reduced ovary development. Thus, consuming royal jelly exclusively not only enriches the diet of queen-destined larvae but also may protect them from inhibitory effects of phytochemicals present in the honey and beebread fed to worker-destined larvae.
在具有生殖能力的蜂后和不育工蜂的群居蜜蜂意大利蜜蜂中，雌性幼虫的发育命运取决于其饮食；哺育蜂只给注定成为蜂后的幼虫喂食蜂王浆，这是一种腺体分泌物，但注定成为工蜂的幼虫只接受3天的蜂王浆，随后接受添加了蜂蜜和蜂粮的蜂王浆。RNA测序分析表明，蜂蜜和蜂粮中普遍存在的对香豆酸差异调节参与种型决定的基因。在添加了对香豆酸的蜂王浆饮食中体外饲养幼虫，会产生卵巢发育减弱的成虫。因此，只食用蜂王浆不仅丰富了注定成为蜂后的幼虫的饮食，还可能保护它们免受喂食给注定成为工蜂的幼虫的蜂蜜和蜂粮中存在的植物化学物质的抑制作用。
