PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Division of labor in honey bee colonies is based on the behavioral maturation of adult workers that involves a transition from working in the hive to foraging. This behavioral maturation is associated with distinct task-related transcriptomic profiles in the brain and abdominal fat body that are related to multiple regulatory factors including juvenile hormone (JH) and queen mandibular pheromone (QMP). A prominent physiological feature associated with behavioral maturation is a loss of abdominal lipid mass as bees transition to foraging. We used transcriptomic and physiological analyses to study whether microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the regulation of division of labor. We first identified two miRNAs that showed patterns of expression associated with behavioral maturation, ame-miR-305-5p and ame-miR-375-3p. We then downregulated the expression of these two miRNAs with sequence-specific antagomirs. Neither ame-miR-305-5p nor ame-miR-375-3p knockdown in the abdomen affected abdominal lipid mass on their own. Similarly, knockdown of ame-miR-305-5p in combination with JH or QMP also did not affect lipid mass. By contrast, ame-miR-305-5p knockdown in the abdomen caused substantial changes in gene expression in the brain. Brain gene expression changes included genes encoding transcription factors previously implicated in behavioral maturation. The results of these functional genomic experiments extend previous correlative associations of microRNAs with honey bee division of labor and point to specific roles for ame-miR-305-5p.
摘要：
蜜蜂殖民地的分工是基于成年工人的行为成熟，这涉及从在蜂巢工作到觅食的过渡。这种行为成熟与大脑和腹部脂肪体中与任务相关的独特转录组学特征有关，这些转录组学特征与多种调节因素有关，包括幼年激素（JH）和女王下颌信息素（QMP）。与行为成熟相关的突出生理特征是随着蜜蜂过渡到觅食，腹部脂质质量的损失。我们使用转录组学和生理学分析来研究microRNAs（miRNAs）是否参与分工的调节。我们首先鉴定了两种显示与行为成熟相关的表达模式的miRNA，ame-miR-305-5p和ame-miR-375-3p。然后我们用序列特异性antagomir下调这两种miRNA的表达。腹部中的ame-miR-305-5p和ame-miR-375-3p敲低均不影响腹部脂质质量。同样，ame-miR-305-5p与JH或QMP联合敲除也不影响脂质质量.相比之下,ame-miR-305-5p在腹部敲除导致大脑中基因表达的实质性变化。脑基因表达变化包括编码先前与行为成熟有关的转录因子的基因。这些功能基因组实验的结果扩展了先前microRNA与蜜蜂分工的相关关联，并指出ame-miR-305-5p的特定作用。
