Nutrient balancing of the adult worker bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) depends on the dietary source of essential amino acids.

ABSTRACT: Animals carefully regulate the amount of protein that they consume. The quantity of individual essential amino acids (EAAs) obtained from dietary protein depends on the protein source, but how the proportion of EAAs in the diet affects nutrient balancing has rarely been studied. Recent research using the Geometric Framework for Nutrition has revealed that forager honeybees who receive much of their dietary EAAs from floral nectar and not from solid protein have relatively low requirements for dietary EAAs. Here, we examined the nutritional requirements for protein and carbohydrates of foragers of the buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris. By using protein (sodium caseinate) or an equimolar mixture of the 10 EAAs, we found that the intake target (nutritional optimum) of adult workers depe

SUBMITTER: Stabler D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4376193 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature