Detection of transcripts zelda during oogenesis of Apis mellifera

• Grant number: 15/04823-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2015
• End date: May 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Zilá Luz Paulino Simões
• Grantee: Franciene Rabiço Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 11/03171-5 - Causal analysis of Apis mellifera development: regulatory genes and hierachical networks of gene expression in the specification of tissue and organs, AP.TEM

Abstract

During oogenesis of Apis mellifera bees, maternal products from ovarian cells are deposited in the oocytes in development. Many of these products are responsible for early embryonic development and accountable to future maintenance of the zygote stage prior to activating egg. Among these we find the zelda mRNA, which is involved in the activation of the zygotic genome and regulates various stages of embryo development. This mRNA, as described in Drosophila, was located in libraries of RNA in mature oocytes of A. mellifera. The presence of this transcript in mature oocytes is an indicator of maternal origin. However, its role in oogenesis is not yet known, and it is not known which cells were producing maternal zelda, and, if this transcript was being produced in the ovaries inactive and asset queens and workers. Possibly the transfer of Zelda mRNA coding for the oocyte occurs during specific times of the oogenesis of queens and workers, being synthesized by follicular cells. To test this hypothesis we want to study the follicular cells and accessory cells of the ovaries during different stages of oogenesis the queen and worker using protocols hybridization in situ and quantitative PCR.