Lovegrove, MR, Dearden, PK and Duncan, EJ orcid.org/0000-0002-1841-504X (2023) Honeybee queen mandibular pheromone induces a starvation response in Drosophila melanogaster. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 154. 103908. ISSN 0965-1748
Abstract
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Queen mandibular pheromone; Honey bee; Drosophila; Nutrient sensing; Eusociality |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 31 Jan 2023 11:14 |
Last Modified: | 31 Jan 2023 11:15 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.ibmb.2023.103908 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:195861 |