Lovegrove Mackenzie R, Dearden Peter K, Duncan Elizabeth J
Genomics Aotearoa and Biochemistry Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, Aotearoa, New Zealand; School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
Genomics Aotearoa and Biochemistry Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2023 Mar;154:103908. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2023.103908. Epub 2023 Jan 16.
Eusocial insect societies are defined by the reproductive division of labour, a social structure that is generally enforced by the reproductive dominant(s) or 'queen(s)'. Reproductive dominance is maintained through behavioural dominance or production of queen pheromones, or a mixture of both. Queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) is a queen pheromone produced by queen honeybees (Apis mellifera) which represses reproduction in worker honeybees. How QMP acts to repress worker reproduction, the mechanisms by which this repression is induced, and how it has evolved this activity, remain poorly understood. Surprisingly, QMP is capable of repressing reproduction in non-target arthropods. Here we show that in Drosophila melanogaster QMP treatment mimics the starvation response, disrupting reproduction. QMP exposure induces an increase in food consumption and activation of checkpoints in the ovary that reduce fecundity and depresses insulin signalling. The magnitude of these effects is indistinguishable between QMP-treated and starved individuals. As QMP triggers a starvation response in an insect diverged from honeybees, we propose that QMP originally evolved by co-opting nutrition signalling pathways to regulate reproduction.
真社会性昆虫群体由生殖分工所定义，这种社会结构通常由具有生殖优势的个体或“蚁后”来维持。生殖优势通过行为优势或蚁后信息素的产生，或两者兼而有之来维持。蜂王上颚腺信息素（QMP）是由蜂王（西方蜜蜂）产生的一种蚁后信息素，它会抑制工蜂的繁殖。QMP如何抑制工蜂繁殖、诱导这种抑制的机制以及它是如何进化出这种活性的，目前仍知之甚少。令人惊讶的是，QMP能够抑制非目标节肢动物的繁殖。在这里，我们表明，在黑腹果蝇中，QMP处理模拟饥饿反应，扰乱繁殖。暴露于QMP会导致食物消耗增加以及卵巢中检查点的激活，从而降低繁殖力并抑制胰岛素信号传导。在接受QMP处理的个体和饥饿个体之间，这些影响的程度没有区别。由于QMP在与蜜蜂分化的昆虫中引发饥饿反应，我们提出QMP最初是通过利用营养信号通路来调节繁殖而进化的。
