Insulin-like peptide genes in honey bee fat body respond differently to manipulation of social behavioral physiology.

ABSTRACT: Nutrient sensitive insulin-like peptides (ILPs) have profound effects on invertebrate metabolism, nutrient storage, fertility and aging. Many insects transcribe ILPs in specialized neurosecretory cells at changing levels correlated with life history. However, the major site of insect metabolism and nutrient storage is not the brain, but rather the fat body, where functions of ILP expression are rarely studied and poorly understood. Fat body is analogous to mammalian liver and adipose tissue, with nutrient stores that often correlate with behavior. We used the honey bee (Apis mellifera), an insect with complex behavior, to test whether ILP genes in fat body respond to experimentally induced changes of behavioral physiology. Honey bee fat body influences endocrine state and behavior by secre

SUBMITTER: Nilsen KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3076075 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature