AMPK signaling pathway: potential regulated targets and effects on gene expression during control of caste development in honeybees

• Grant number: 17/26418-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2018
• End date: April 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Klaus Hartmann Hartfelder
• Grantee: Douglas Elias Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Its high phenotypic plasticity induced by nutritional factors makes Apis mellifera an excellent model organism for developmental biology studies. The queen and worker castes arise from the same genotype, developing from a bipotent larval state that responds to external stimuli during the postembryonic developmental phase. These stimuli are nutritionally well-defined dietary regimes that the so called nurse bees provide to the larvae. Larvae that received large amounts of royal jelly throughout the larval feeding stages will become highly fertile adult queens with a long lifespan. In turn, larvae that received a less caloric worker jelly during early development and then a mixed diet will originate subfertile adult workers with a short lifespan. The development of two phenotypically distinct castes from bipotent larvae is mediated via nutrient-sensing pathways, such as insulin/TOR, hypoxia response as well as juvenile hormone, and involves the regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism. Considering that the 5' AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) interacts directly with most of these molecular pathways and assuming its conserved molecular function in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis, body weight and nutrient absorption by cells, we propose to investigate in this project the influence and role of AMPK in the caste differentiation process of the honeybee A. mellifera.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SANTOS, DOUGLAS ELIAS; SOUZA, ANDERSON DE OLIVEIRA; TIBERIO, GUSTAVO JACOMINI; ALBERICI, LUCIANE CARLA; HARTFELDER, KLAUS. Differential expression of antioxidant system genes in honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) caste development mitigates ROS-mediated oxidative damage in queen larvae. GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, v. 43, n. 4, 2020. (13/24733-7, 17/26418-2, 17/09128-0, 11/03171-5)