Huang Zachary Y, Lin Stephanie, Ahn Kiheung
Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
Insect Sci. 2018 Apr;25(2):235-240. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.12411. Epub 2016 Dec 7.
Methoprene, a juvenile hormone (JH) analog, is a widely used insecticide that also accelerates behavioral development in honey bees (Apis mellifera). JH regulates the transition from nursing to foraging in adult worker bees, and treatment with JH or methoprene have both been shown to induce precocious foraging. To determine how methoprene changes honey bee behavior, we compared JH titers of methoprene-treated and untreated bees. Behavioral observations confirmed that methoprene treatment significantly increased the number of precocious foragers in 3 out of 4 colonies. In only 1 out of 4 colonies, however, was there a significant difference in JH titers between the methoprene-treated and control bees. Further, in all 4 colonies, there was no significant differences in JH titers between precocious and normal-aged foragers. These results suggest that methoprene did not directly affect the endogenous JH secreted by corpora allata. Because methoprene caused early foraging without changing workers' JH titers, we conclude that methoprene most likely acts directly on the JH receptors as a substitute for JH.
烯虫酯是一种保幼激素（JH）类似物，是一种广泛使用的杀虫剂，它还能加速蜜蜂（西方蜜蜂）的行为发育。保幼激素调节成年工蜂从哺育到觅食的转变，已证明用保幼激素或烯虫酯处理均可诱导早熟觅食。为了确定烯虫酯如何改变蜜蜂行为，我们比较了经烯虫酯处理和未处理蜜蜂的保幼激素滴度。行为观察证实，烯虫酯处理显著增加了4个蜂群中3个蜂群早熟觅食者的数量。然而，在4个蜂群中只有1个蜂群，经烯虫酯处理的蜜蜂和对照蜜蜂之间的保幼激素滴度存在显著差异。此外，在所有4个蜂群中，早熟觅食者和正常年龄觅食者之间的保幼激素滴度没有显著差异。这些结果表明，烯虫酯不会直接影响咽侧体分泌的内源性保幼激素。由于烯虫酯在不改变工蜂保幼激素滴度的情况下导致早熟觅食，我们得出结论，烯虫酯很可能作为保幼激素的替代品直接作用于保幼激素受体。
