Biased gene expression in early honeybee larval development.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Female larvae of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) develop into either queens or workers depending on nutrition. This nutritional stimulus triggers different developmental trajectories, resulting in adults that differ from each other in physiology, behaviour and life span.

Results

To understand how these trajectories are established we have generated a comprehensive atlas of gene expression throughout larval development. We found substantial differences in gene expression between worker and queen-destined larvae at 6 hours after hatching. Some of these early changes in gene expression are maintained throughout larval development, indicating that caste-specific developmental trajectories are established much earlier than previously thought. Within our gene expression d

SUBMITTER: Cameron RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3878232 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature