Pair-rule gene orthologues have unexpected maternal roles in the honeybee (Apis mellifera).
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wilson MJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3460886 | biostudies-other | 2012
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Pair-rule gene orthologues have unexpected maternal roles in the honeybee (Apis mellifera).
Wilson Megan J MJ Dearden Peter K PK
PloS one 20120928 9
Pair-rule genes are a class of segmentation genes first identified in Drosophila melanogaster. In Drosophila, these genes act to translate non-periodic information produced by the overlapping patterns of gap gene expression into patterns of gene expression in every other segment. While pair-rule genes are, for the most part, conserved in metazoans, their function in pair-rule patterning is not. Many of these genes do, however, regulate segmentation in arthropods and do so with dual-segment perio ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Transferrins belong to a family of iron-binding proteins that have been implicated in innate immunity and in vitellogenesis in insects. Here we have sequenced and characterized a full-length cDNA encoding a putative iron-binding transferrin (AmTRF) in the honeybee. AmTRF shows high level of sequence identity with transferrins in both vertebrates and insects (26-46%) suggesting that the primary function of the predicted 712 amino acid protein is binding and transporting of iron. AmTRF is expressed ubiquitously, but particularly high levels of its mRNA are found in the central brain and in the compound eye. Using northern blotting and a microarray based approach we have examined the levels of AmTRF mRNA by expression profiling under a wide range of conditions including developmental stages, septic injury and juvenile hormone treatment. Increased expression of AmTRF is seen during early pupal stages, in the brain of mature foragers and in the abdomen of virgin queens, whereas treatment with juvenile hormone leads to a decrease of AmTRF levels in the abdomen. We show that a transcriptional response of transferrin to septic injury with E. coli is relatively moderate as compared to a dramatic up-regulation of an antibacterial polypeptide, Hymenoptaecin, under similar conditions. We conclude that major fluctuations of AmTRF mRNA in time and space are consistent with context-dependent functional significance and suggest broader multifunctional roles for transferrin in insects.
| S-EPMC524666 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The queens of eusocial ants, bees, and wasps only mate during a very brief period early in life to acquire and store a lifetime supply of sperm. As sperm cannot be replenished, queens have to be highly economic when using stored sperm to fertilize eggs, especially in species with large and long-lived colonies. However, queen fertility has not been studied in detail, so that we have little understanding of how economic sperm use is in different species, and whether queens are able to influence their sperm use. This is surprising given that sperm use is a key factor of eusocial life, as it determines the fecundity and longevity of queens and therefore colony fitness. We quantified the number of sperm that honeybee (Apis mellifera) queens use to fertilize eggs. We examined sperm use in naturally mated queens of different ages and in queens artificially inseminated with different volumes of semen. We found that queens are remarkably efficient and only use a median of 2 sperm per egg fertilization, with decreasing sperm use in older queens. The number of sperm in storage was always a significant predictor for the number of sperm used per fertilization, indicating that queens use a constant ratio of spermathecal fluid relative to total spermathecal volume of 2.364 × 10(-6) to fertilize eggs. This allowed us to calculate a lifetime fecundity for honeybee queens of around 1,500,000 fertilized eggs. Our data provide the first empirical evidence that honeybee queens do not manipulate sperm use, and fertilization failures in worker-destined eggs are therefore honest signals that workers can use to time queen replacement, which is crucial for colony performance and fitness.
| S-EPMC4863013 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hygienic behavior is a complex, genetically-based quantitative trait that serves as a key defense mechanism against parasites and diseases in Apis mellifera. Yet, the genomic basis and functional pathways involved in the initiation of this behavior are still unclear. Deciphering the genomic basis of hygienic behavior is a prerequisite to developing an extensive repertoire of genetic markers associated to the performance level of this quantitative trait. To fill this knowledge gap, we performed an RNA-seq on brain samples of 25 honeybees per hives from five hygienic and three non-hygienic hives.This analysis revealed that a limited number of functional genes are involved in honeybee hygienic behavior. The genes identified, and especially their location in the honeybee genome, are consistent with previous findings. Indeed, the genomic sequences of most differentially expressed genes were found on the majority of the QTL regions associated to the hygienic behavior described in previous studies. According to the Gene Ontology annotation, 15 genes are linked to the GO-terms DNA or nucleotide binding, indicating a possible role of these genes in transcription regulation. Furthermore, GO-category enrichment analysis revealed that electron carrier activity is over-represented, involving only genes belonging to the cytochrome P450. Cytochrome P450 enzymes' overexpression can be explained by a disturbance in the regulation of expression induced by changes in transcription regulation or sensitivity to xenobiotics. Over-expressed cytochrome P450 enzymes could potentially degrade the odorant pheromones or chemicals that normally signal the presence of a diseased brood before activation of the removal process thereby inhibit hygienic behavior.These findings improve our understanding on the genetics basis of the hygienic behavior. Our results show that hygienic behavior relies on a limited set of genes linked to different regulation patterns (expression level and biological processes) associated with an over-expression of cytochrome P450 genes.
| S-EPMC4491870 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The European honeybee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), has a full set of machinery for functional CpG methylation of its genome. A recent study demonstrated that DNA methylation in the honeybee is involved in caste differentiation. In this study, the expression and methylation of the hexamerin 110 gene (Hex110), which encodes a storage protein, was analyzed. High levels of the Hex110 transcript were expressed in both worker and queen larvae. Low levels of this transcript were also detected in adult fat bodies, and the expression level was higher in the queen than in the worker. Bisulfite sequencing revealed that the Hex110 gene is overall methylated at a low level, with a limited number of CpG sites methylated at relatively high levels. These highly methylated sites were exclusively located in the exon regions. The average methylation rate of the Hex110 gene was higher in the adult stage than in the larval stage. Furthermore, several CpG sites were differentially methylated between the worker and queen larvae. These observations suggest that the methylation of the Hex110 gene is regulated at the developmental stage and in a caste-dependent manner.
| S-EPMC3281433 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The native range of the honeybee Apis mellifera encompasses Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, whereas the nine other species of Apis are found exclusively in Asia. It is therefore commonly assumed that A. mellifera arose in Asia and expanded into Europe and Africa. However, other hypotheses for the origin of A. mellifera have also been proposed based on phylogenetic trees constructed from genetic markers. In particular, an analysis based on >1000 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers placed the root of the tree of A. mellifera subspecies among samples from Africa, suggestive of an out-of-Africa expansion. Here, we re-evaluate the evidence for this and other hypotheses by testing the robustness of the tree topology to different tree-building methods and by removing specimens with a potentially hybrid background. These analyses do not unequivocally place the root of the tree of A. mellifera subspecies within Africa, and are potentially consistent with a variety of hypotheses for honeybee evolution, including an expansion out of Asia. Our analyses also support high divergence between western and eastern European populations of A. mellifera, suggesting they are likely derived from two distinct colonization routes, although the sources of these expansions are still unclear.
| S-EPMC3433997 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To avoid poisoning and death when toxins are ingested, the body responds with a suite of physiological detoxification mechanisms accompanied by behaviours that in mammals often include vomiting, nausea, and lethargy. Few studies have characterised whether insects exhibit characteristic 'malaise-like' behaviours in response to intoxication. Here, we used the honeybee to investigate how intoxication produced by injection or ingestion with three toxins with different pharmacological modes of action quinine, amygdalin, and lithium chloride affected behaviour. We found that toxin-induced changes in behaviour were best characterised by more time spent grooming. Bees also had difficulty performing the righting reflex and exhibited specific toxin-induced behaviours such as abdomen dragging and curling up. The expression of these behaviours also depended on whether a toxin had been injected or ingested. When toxins were ingested, they were least 10 times less concentrated in the haemolymph than in the ingested food, suggesting that their absorption through the gut is strongly regulated. Our data show that bees exhibit changes in behaviour that are characteristic of 'malaise' and suggest that physiological signalling of toxicosis is accomplished by multiple post-ingestive pathways in animals.
| S-EPMC4169619 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Ftz-f1 (Fushi tarazu transcription factor 1) is an orphan member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily, with one of its transcriptional variant (βFtz-f) being homolog of the vertebrate SF1. Ftz-f1 gene is induced after a 20E pulse, and allows for the expression of down-stream genes in processes leading to major switching in development, like those of metamorphosis. In honeybees, the expression of some genes (e.g. vitellogenin, vg; pro-phenoloxidase, pro-Po; juvenile hormone esterase, jhe) during the last part of pharate-adult development is known to be under hormonal control [increasing juvenile hormone titers (JH) in the presence of declining levels of ecdysteroids], both, in queens and workers. However, despite the USP involvement in the gene expression cascade promoted by JH, it does not seem to be the unique mediator of its activity, and, thus, we are still ignorant of the molecular factors regulating the expression of these genes, at least, during the critical period of pharate-adult development. Here, we show that Amftz-f1 has caste-specific transcription profile in fat bodies during this developmental stage, peaking just at the moment of the resuming of JH titers increase in the presence of low levels of ecdysteroids. Knock-down experiments (by RNAi) showed that the expression of genes essential to adult development (e.g. vg, and cuticular protein genes) depends on ftz-f1. Our results suggest that Amftz-f1 can also be considered a competence factor to the expression of several genes during pharate-adult development, and, thus, as a key actor in one of the last developmental processes leading to caste differentiation in A. mellifera.
2018-12-13 | GSE90037 | GEO
Project description:Honeybee colonies are vulnerable to parasites and pathogens ranging from viruses to vertebrates. An increasingly prevalent disease of managed honeybees is caused by the microsporidian Nosema ceranae. Microsporidia are basal fungi and obligate parasites with much-reduced genomic and cellular components. A recent genome-sequencing effort for N. ceranae indicated the presence of machinery for RNA silencing in this species, suggesting that RNA interference (RNAi) might be exploited to regulate Nosema gene expression within bee hosts. Here we used controlled laboratory experiments to show that double-stranded RNA homologous to specific N. ceranae ADP/ATP transporter genes can specifically and differentially silence transcripts encoding these proteins. This inhibition also affects Nosema levels and host physiology. Gene silencing could be mediated solely by Nosema or in concert with known systemic RNAi mechanisms in their bee hosts. These results are novel for the microsporidia and provide a possible avenue for controlling a disease agent implicated in severe honeybee colony losses. Moreover, since microsporidia are pathogenic in several known veterinary and human diseases, this advance may have broader applications in the future for disease control.
| S-EPMC2935068 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is an important insect pollinator of wild flowers and crops, playing critical roles in the global ecosystem. Additionally, the honeybee serves as an ideal social insect model. Therefore, functional studies on honeybee genes are of great interest. However, until now, effective gene manipulation methods have not been available in honeybees. Here, we reported an improved CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing method by microinjecting sgRNA and Cas9 protein into the region of zygote formation within 2 hr after queen oviposition, which allows one-step generation of biallelic knockout mutants in honeybee with high efficiency. We first targeted the Mrjp1 gene. Two batches of honeybee embryos were collected and injected with Mrjp1 sgRNA and Cas9 protein at the ventral cephalic side and the dorsal posterior side of the embryos, respectively. The gene-editing rate at the ventral cephalic side was 93.3%, which was much higher than that (11.8%) of the dorsal-posterior-side injection. To validate the high efficiency of our honeybee gene-editing system, we targeted another gene, Pax6, and injected Pax6 sgRNA and Cas9 protein at the ventral cephalic side in the third batch. A 100% editing rate was obtained. Sanger sequencing of the TA clones showed that 73.3% (for Mrjp1) and 76.9% (for Pax6) of the edited current-generation embryos were biallelic knockout mutants. These results suggest that the CRISPR/Cas9 method we established permits one-step biallelic knockout of target genes in honeybee embryos, thereby demonstrating an efficient application to functional studies of honeybee genes. It also provides a useful reference to gene editing in other insects with elongated eggs.
| S-EPMC6505149 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The honeybee pupae development influences its future adult condition as well as honey and royal jelly productions. However, the molecular mechanism that regulates honeybee pupae head metamorphosis is still poorly understood. To further our understand of the associated molecular mechanism, we investigated the protein change of the honeybee pupae head at 5 time-points using 2-D electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, bioinformatics, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis. Accordingly, 58 protein spots altered their expression across the 5 time points (13-20 days), of which 36 proteins involved in the head organogenesis were upregulated during early stages (13-17 days). However, 22 proteins involved in regulating the pupae head neuron and gland development were upregulated at later developmental stages (19-20 days). Also, the functional enrichment analysis further suggests that proteins related to carbohydrate metabolism and energy production, development, cytoskeleton and protein folding were highly involved in the generation of organs and development of honeybee pupal head. Furthermore, the constructed protein interaction network predicted 33 proteins acting as key nodes of honeybee pupae head growth of which 9 and 4 proteins were validated at gene and protein levels, respectively. In this study, we uncovered potential protein species involved in the formation of honeybee pupae head development along with their specific temporal requirements. This first proteomic result allows deeper understanding of the proteome profile changes during honeybee pupae head development and provides important potential candidate proteins for future reverse genetic research on honeybee pupae head development to improve the performance of related organs.
| S-EPMC3102718 | biostudies-literature