Frontiers in Zoology, 2013, 10:72
Background
In the honeybee Apis mellifera, female larvae destined to
become a queen are fed with royal jelly, a secretion of the hypopharyngeal
glands of young nurse bees that rear the brood. The protein moiety of royal
jelly comprises mostly major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) of which the coding
genes (mrjp1-9) have been identified on chromosome 11 in the honeybee's genome.
Results
We determined the expression of mrjp1-9 among the honeybee
worker caste (nurses, foragers) and the sexuals (queens (unmated, mated) and
drones) in various body parts (head, thorax, abdomen). Specific mrjp expression
was not only found in brood rearing nurse bees, but also in foragers and the
sexuals.
Conclusions
The expression of mrjp1 to 7 is characteristic for the heads
of worker bees, with an elevated expression of mrjp1-4 and 7 in nurse bees
compared to foragers. Mrjp5 and 6 were higher in foragers compared to nurses
suggesting functions in addition to those of brood food proteins. Furthermore,
the expression of mrjp9 was high in the heads, thoraces and abdomen of almost
all female bees, suggesting a function irrespective of body section. This
completely different expression profile suggests mrjp9 to code for the most
ancestral major royal jelly protein of the honeybee.
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