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RNA-sequencing elucidates the regulation of behavioural transitions associated with mating in honey bee queens

ABSTRACT: Mating is a complex process, which is frequently associated with behavioural and physiological changes. However, understanding of the genetic underpinnings of these changes is limited. Honey bees are both a model system in behavioural genomics, and the dominant managed pollinator of human crops; consequently understanding the mating process has both pure and applied value. We used next-generation transcriptomics to probe changes in gene expression in the brains of honey bee queens, as they transition from virgin to mated reproductive status. In addition, we used CO2-narcosis, which induces oviposition without mating, as an experimental control for the mating process. Mating produced significant changes in the expression of vision, chemo-reception, metabolic, and immune-related genes. Differential expression of these genes maps clearly onto known behavioural and physiological changes that occur during the transition from being a virgin queen to a newly-mated queen. A subset of these changes in gene expression were also detected in CO2-treated queens, as predicted from previous physiological studies. In addition, we compared our results to previous studies that used microarray techniques across a range of experimental time-points. Changes in expression of immune- and vision-related genes were common to all studies, supporting an involvement of these groups of genes in the mating process. However, these comparisons also indicate the need to understand the temporal dynamics of gene expression across the entire mating and reproductive process.

ORGANISM(S): Apis mellifera

PROVIDER: GSE65833 | GEO | 2015/09/23

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA275154

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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RNA-sequencing elucidates the regulation of behavioural transitions associated with mating in honey bee queens

Project description:Mating is a complex process, which is frequently associated with behavioural and physiological changes. However, understanding of the genetic underpinnings of these changes is limited. Honey bees are both a model system in behavioural genomics, and the dominant managed pollinator of human crops; consequently understanding the mating process has both pure and applied value. We used next-generation transcriptomics to probe changes in gene expression in the brains of honey bee queens, as they transition from virgin to mated reproductive status. In addition, we used CO2-narcosis, which induces oviposition without mating, as an experimental control for the mating process. Mating produced significant changes in the expression of vision, chemo-reception, metabolic, and immune-related genes. Differential expression of these genes maps clearly onto known behavioural and physiological changes that occur during the transition from being a virgin queen to a newly-mated queen. A subset of these changes in gene expression were also detected in CO2-treated queens, as predicted from previous physiological studies. In addition, we compared our results to previous studies that used microarray techniques across a range of experimental time-points. Changes in expression of immune- and vision-related genes were common to all studies, supporting an involvement of these groups of genes in the mating process. However, these comparisons also indicate the need to understand the temporal dynamics of gene expression across the entire mating and reproductive process. Brain RNA samples for 3 treatments: control (N=4), mated (N=4) and treated with carbon dioxide (N=4)

2015-09-23 | E-GEOD-65833 | biostudies-arrayexpress

Transcription profiling of honeey bee to assess the effects of mating and instrumental insemination on honey bee behavior physiology and brain gene expression

Project description:Mating is fundamental to the success and reproduction of most organisms, although the physiological and transcriptional changes associated with this process have been largely characterized only in Drosophila. In this study, we use honey bees as a model system since their queens undergo massive and permanent physiological and behavioral changes following mating. Previous studies have identified changes associated with the transition from a virgin queen to a fully-mated, egg-laying queen. Here, we further uncouple the mating process to examine the effects of natural mating vs. instrumental insemination and saline vs. semen insemination. We observed significant overlap between our study and analogous studies in Drosophila, suggesting that some post-mating mechanisms are conserved across insect orders.

2009-12-01 | E-MEXP-2205 | biostudies-arrayexpress

Seminal fluid components alone stimulate post-mating changes in honey bee queens (Apis mellifera)

Project description:Honey bee queens undergo dramatic behavioral (e.g., reduced sexual receptivity), physiological (e.g., ovary activation, ovulation, and modulation of pheromone production) and molecular changes after they complete mating. To elucidate how queen post-mating changes are influenced by seminal fluid, a non-spermatozoa-containing component of semen, we injected queens with semen or seminal fluid alone. We assessed queen sexual receptivity, ovary development, worker retinue response (which is influenced by queen pheromone production), and transcriptional changes in queen abdominal fat body and brain tissues. Injection with either seminal fluid or semen resulted in decreased sexual receptivity, increased attractiveness of queens to workers, and altered expression of several genes that are also regulated in naturally mated queens. The post-mating and transcriptional changes of queens receiving seminal fluid were not significantly different from queens treated with seminal fluid, suggesting that components in seminal fluid, such as seminal fluid proteins, are largely responsible for stimulating post-mating changes in queens.

2020-07-27 | GSE145395 | GEO

Honey bee heat-shock proteomics

Project description:Honey bee colonies were maintained in an apiary at the University of British Columbia. During the summer of 2018, 40 queens were reared from a single colony and half were allowed to open mate, while the other half were kept as virgins in plastic queen cages. Two weeks after emergence, the virgin queens were given two, eight-minute carbon dioxide treatments on 2 sequential days, then re-introduced to their nucleus colonies. This process stimulates virgin queens to begin laying71, and we conducted these treatments in order to minimize the physiological differences between virgin and mated queens. Virgin and mated queens were retrieved from their nucleus colonies and half of each (10) were subjected to heat-shock (42 ͦC, 2 h), and then maintained at 30 ͦC for 2 d. The other half were held only at 30 ͦC for 2 d. Four to six weeks after mating, the queens were anesthetized with carbon dioxide, beheaded, then their spermathecae (including the tracheal net) were removed with fine forceps. Both ovaries were also removed and weighed. During the same summer, 200 drones from a different colony in the same apiary were collected and maintained in the laboratory overnight at ambient temperature with excess syrup (50% sucrose). The next day, semen was harvested with glass capillaries according to the methods described above. Because many drones were not sexually mature, 60 semen samples (out of the 200 drones) were collected. Capillaries were placed in petri dishes and half (30) were heat-shocked as described above, then kept at 25 ͦC for 2 d. The other half were only kept at 25 ͦC for 2 d. Ten samples from each experimental group were used for sperm viability assays as described above.

2019-07-19 | PXD013728 | Pride

Seminal fluid compromises visual perception in honeybee queens reducing their survival during additional mating flights

Project description:Queens of social insects make all mate-choice decisions on a single day, except in honeybees whose queens can conduct mating flights for several days even when already inseminated by a number of drones. Honeybees therefore appear to have a unique, evolutionarily derived form of sexual conflict: a queen’s decision to pursue risky additional mating flights is driven by later-life fitness gains from genetically more diverse worker-offspring but reduces paternity shares of the drones she already mated with. We used artificial insemination, RNA-sequencing and electroretinography to show that seminal fluid induces a decline in queen vision by perturbing the phototransduction pathway within 24-48 hours. Follow up field trials revealed that queens receiving seminal fluid flew two days earlier than sister queens inseminated with saline, and failed more often to return. These findings are consistent with seminal fluid components manipulating queen eyesight to reduce queen promiscuity across mating flights.

2019-09-10 | GSE127185 | GEO

Timecourse of gene expression after oprhaning of virgin Solenopsis invicta fire ant queens

Project description:In species with social hierarchies, the death of dominant individuals typically upheaves the social hierarchy and provides an opportunity for subordinate individuals to become reproductives. Such a phenomenon occurs in the monogyne form of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, where colonies typically contain a single wingless reproductive queen, thousands of workers and hundreds of winged non-reproductive virgin queens. Upon the death of the mother queen, many virgin queens shed their wings and initiate reproductive development instead of departing on a mating flight. Workers progressively execute almost all of them over the following weeks. To identify the molecular changes that occur in virgin queens as they perceive the loss of their mother queen and begin to compete for reproductive dominance, we collected virgin queens before the loss of their mother queen, six hours after orphaning and 24 hours after orphaning. Their RNA was extracted and hybridized against microarrays to examine the expression levels of approximately 10,000 genes. We identified 297 genes that were consistently differentially expressed after orphaning. These include genes that are putatively involved in the signaling and onset of reproductive development, as well as genes underlying major physiological changes in the young queens.

2010-02-01 | GSE19721 | GEO

Effects of mating on gene expression profiles of mature ant queens

Project description:Will be added/updated once the manuscript is finalized. Cardiocondyla obscurior queens. Three treatments: virgin queens, queens mated by real males, queens sham-mated (by sterile males). Queens collected 1 week and 8 week after mating. seven loops for queens collected 1 week after mating; nine loops for queens collected 8 weeks after mating. Five direct comparisons (with dye-swaps... so 10 arrays) were done of between 1 week and 8 week samples of queens mated by real males. Each sample is RNA from two queens (from different colonies). Samples were hybridized against Solenopsis invicta microarrays (signal was detectable for most clones!)

2013-10-26 | E-GEOD-24953 | biostudies-arrayexpress

Transcription profiling of honey bee queens treated with carbon dioxide and physical manipulation vs virgin controls

Project description:Mating is a complex process that causes many behavioral and physiological changes, but the factors triggering these changes and the underlying molecular processes are not well characterized. Honey bee queens provide a convenient system for dissecting these factors (e.g., physical manipulation, insemination volume, insemination substance) via instrumental insemination. We examined the effects of carbon dioxide (CO2), a commonly used anesthetic in instrumental insemination that causes changes similar to those observed after mating, and physical manipulation, which presumably mimics the act of copulation, on the brain transcriptional changes in honey bee queens. We found significant gene overlap between our study and previous mating studies in honey bee queens and Drosophila. This suggests that molecular pathways regulating the mating process are conserved across different mating regimes of honey bees as well as across insect orders.

2011-01-30 | E-MEXP-2646 | biostudies-arrayexpress

Timecourse of gene expression after oprhaning of virgin Solenopsis invicta fire ant queens

2010-01-31 | E-GEOD-19721 | biostudies-arrayexpress

Fire ant alate virgin and de-alate mated queen brain transcriptomes

Project description:Transcriptomes of dissected brains from alate virgin and de-alate mated queens from polygyne fire ants were analyzed and compared. Four replicates of each condition were obtained. Thirteen genes were upregulated in mated queen brain and nine were downregulated. We found that for four differentially expressed genes in brain selected for qPCR analyses, changes in gene expression were most likely driven by the changes in physiological state (i.e. age, nutritional status or dominance rank) or in social environment (released from influence of primer pheromone).

2018-05-09 | GSE108063 | GEO

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