Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, MOE, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
Department of Entomology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Rehovot, Israel.
Commun Biol. 2024 Apr 25;7(1):502. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06206-5.
In Asian honeybees, virgin queens typically only mate during a single nuptial flight before founding a colony. This behavior is controlled by the queen-released mandibular pheromone (QMP). 9-oxo-(E)-2-decenoic acid (9-ODA), a key QMP component, acts as sex pheromone and attracts drones. However, how the queens prevent additional mating remains elusive. Here, we show that the secondary QMP component methyl p-hydroxybenzoate (HOB) released by mated queens inhibits male attraction to 9-ODA. Results from electrophysiology and in situ hybridization assay indicated that HOB alone significantly reduces the spontaneous spike activity of 9-ODA-sensitive neurons, and AcerOr11 is specifically expressed in sensilla placodea from the drone's antennae, which are the sensilla that narrowly respond to both 9-ODA and HOB. Deorphanization of AcerOr11 in Xenopus oocyte system showed 9-ODA induces robust inward (regular) currents, while HOB induces inverse currents in a dose-dependent manner. This suggests that HOB potentially acts as an inverse agonist against AcerOr11.
在亚洲蜜蜂中，处女蜂王通常只在一次婚飞中交配，然后建立一个殖民地。这种行为由蜂王释放的下颌腺信息素（QMP）控制。9-氧代-(E)-2-癸烯酸（9-ODA），一种关键的 QMP 成分，作为性信息素吸引雄蜂。然而，蜂王如何防止额外的交配仍然难以捉摸。在这里，我们表明，交配后的蜂王释放的次要 QMP 成分对羟基苯甲酸甲酯（HOB）抑制了雄蜂对 9-ODA 的吸引力。电生理学和原位杂交分析的结果表明，HOB 单独就能显著降低 9-ODA 敏感神经元的自发尖峰活动，并且 AcerOr11 特异性地表达在雄蜂触角的感觉毛板上，这些感觉毛对 9-ODA 和 HOB 都有窄范围的反应。在非洲爪蟾卵母细胞系统中对 AcerOr11 的去孤儿化表明，9-ODA 诱导强烈的内向（常规）电流，而 HOB 则以剂量依赖的方式诱导反向电流。这表明 HOB 可能作为 AcerOr11 的反向激动剂发挥作用。
