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Uncoupling primer and releaser responses to pheromone in honey bees

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Abstract

Pheromones produce dramatic behavioral and physiological responses in a wide variety of species. Releaser pheromones elicit rapid responses within seconds or minutes, while primer pheromones produce long-term changes which may take days to manifest. Honeybee queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) elicits multiple distinct behavioral and physiological responses in worker bees, as both a releaser and primer, and thus produces responses on vastly different time scales. In this study, we demonstrate that releaser and primer responses to QMP can be uncoupled. First, treatment with the juvenile hormone analog methoprene leaves a releaser response (attraction to QMP) intact, but modulates QMP’s primer effects on sucrose responsiveness. Secondly, two components of QMP (9-ODA and 9-HDA) do not elicit a releaser response (attraction) but are as effective as QMP at modulating a primer response, downregulation of foraging-related brain gene expression. These results suggest that different responses to a single pheromone may be produced via distinct pathways.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Josh Summers and Jennifer Keller for expert beekeeping assistance, Cavell Brownie for statistical advice, and Gene Robinson, Robert Anholt, and Fred Gould for critical reading of the manuscript, and anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. This work was supported by an NIH-NIDCD grant (1 R01 DC006395-01A1) to G.E. Robinson (subaward to CMG), and an NCSU URA to PF. This experiment complies with the laws of the USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Christina M. Grozinger, Patrick Fischer & Jacob E. Hampton

  2. Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Christina M. Grozinger, Patrick Fischer & Jacob E. Hampton

  3. W.M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Christina M. Grozinger, Patrick Fischer & Jacob E. Hampton

Authors
  1. Christina M. Grozinger
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  2. Patrick Fischer
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  3. Jacob E. Hampton
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Correspondence to Christina M. Grozinger.

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Grozinger, C.M., Fischer, P. & Hampton, J.E. Uncoupling primer and releaser responses to pheromone in honey bees. Naturwissenschaften 94, 375–379 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0197-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0197-8

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