Caste-specific molecular determinants of ovary development in the honey bee, Apis mellifera.

• Grant number: 09/15772-3
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2010
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal researcher: Marcia Maria Gentile Bitondi
• Grantee: Rodrigo Pires Dallacqua
• Home 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

Polyphenic castes in eusocial bees, resulting from the adoption of alternative division of labor strategies selected throughout evolution, are distinguished primarily by differences in their reproductive potential. In Apis mellifera, among diverse caste specific characters, a pronounced dimorphism is observed, which are determined by differential nutrition received by larvae. This results in distinct Juvenile Hormone and ecdysteroid titers, which in turn regulates the activity of genes responsible for ovary differentiation at the end of larval stage and during pupal stage. The studies about the molecular machinery involved on caste ovary differentiation are still incipient. Among these we can mention the results obtained during my PhD concerning six apoptotic and autophagic genes differently expressed in larval ovaries of honey bee castes. These data represent a breakthrough on the knowledge about how differential feeding and hormonal titers mold ovarian development. The proposal of this project consist on the replacement of the "gene to gene" approach by one broad approach, using microarrays to identify differentially expressed genes on developing queen and worker ovaries . The genes identified, preferentially cell death genes, will be focused in hormonal manipulation in vivo experiments to check hormone dependent expression. Additionally, the morphology of developing queen and worker ovaries will be studied by conventional histology as well as the transcript spatial distribution of those genes on the ovarioles will be investigated by in situ hybridization. This approach is intended to obtain a broad scenario of molecular and morphological events that lead to caste ovary differentiation in 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)

LAGO, DENYSE C.; MARTINS, JULIANA R.; DALLACQUA, RODRIGO P.; SANTOS, DOUGLAS ELIAS; BITONDI, MARCIA M. G.; HARTFELDER, KLAUS. Testis development and spermatogenesis in drones of the honey bee, Apis mellifera L.. Apidologie, v. 51, n. 6 MAY 2020. Web of Science Citations: 1.

DALLACQUA, RODRIGO PIRES; GENTILE BITONDI, MARCIA MARIA. Dimorphic Ovary Differentiation in Honeybee (Apis mellifera) Larvae Involves Caste-Specific Expression of Homologs of Ark and Buffy Cell Death Genes. PLoS One, v. 9, n. 5 MAY 20 2014. Web of Science Citations: 11.