RNA interference of worker sterility genes: Testing mechanisms of reproductive regulation in Apis mellifera
Abstract
Social insects such as the honey bee (Apis mellifera) are well known for their reproductive division of labour and eusocial colony systems. Honey bee workers forgo reproduction in favour of being selfless in directing reproductive benefits towards their queen mother. This altruistic tendency is a result of both behavioural and physiological changes under control of the presence of the queen’s mandibular pheromone. The genetic mechanism that underlies this response is, however, not well understood. Here, this study used RNA interference to knock down the expression of single genes (fruitless and ftz-f1) that have been previously identified as influential in regulating this response to the queen’s pheromone. Cage experiments were performed to monitor changes to worker behaviour, gene expression and physiology. This study could not conclusively confirm that the target genes were indeed knocked down (due to small sample size); however, it was determined that certain ftz-f1 siRNA treatments caused a significant impact on the ovarian development of the worker bees. Future studies would need to confirm that this is due to that fact that the gene was knocked down.