Insulin Receptor Substrate Gene Knockdown Accelerates Behavioural Maturation and Shortens Lifespan in Honeybee Workers.

ABSTRACT: In animals, dietary restriction or suppression of genes involved in nutrient sensing tends to increase lifespan. In contrast, food restriction in honeybees (Apis mellifera) shortens lifespan by accelerating a behavioural maturation program that culminates in leaving the nest as a forager. Foraging is metabolically demanding and risky, and foragers experience increased rates of aging and mortality. Food-deprived worker bees forage at younger ages and are expected to live shorter lives. We tested whether suppression of a molecular nutrient sensing pathway is sufficient to accelerate the behavioural transition to foraging and shorten worker life. To achieve this, we reduced expression of the insulin receptor substrate (irs) gene via RNA interference in two selected

SUBMITTER: Ihle KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6920892 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature