C-type allatostatins mimic stress-related effects of alarm pheromone on honey bee learning and memory recall

As honey bee populations worldwide are declining there is an urgent need for a deeper understanding of stress reactivity in these important insects. Our data indicate that stress responses in bees (Apis mellifera L.) may be mediated by neuropeptides identified, on the basis of sequence similarities,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-03, Vol.12 (3), p.e0174321-e0174321
Main Authors: Urlacher, Elodie, Devaud, Jean-Marc, Mercer, Alison R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alarm pheromone
Alarm systems
Animal behavior
Animal biology
Animals
Apis mellifera
Bees
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Biology and Life Sciences
Cognitive science
Comparative analysis
Drosophila
European honeybee
Honey
Insects
Invertebrate Zoology
Learning
Learning - physiology
Life Sciences
Memory
Memory - physiology
Mental Recall
Neurons and Cognition
Neuropeptides
Neuropeptides - metabolism
Pentanols - metabolism
Pheromones
Pheromones - metabolism
Physical Sciences
Physiological aspects
Social Sciences
Stress, Physiological - physiology
Stresses
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:As honey bee populations worldwide are declining there is an urgent need for a deeper understanding of stress reactivity in these important insects. Our data indicate that stress responses in bees (Apis mellifera L.) may be mediated by neuropeptides identified, on the basis of sequence similarities, as allatostatins (ASTA, ASTC and ASTCC). Effects of allatostatin injection are compared with stress-related changes in learning performance induced by the honeybee alarm pheromone, isopentylacetate (IPA). We find that bees can exhibit two markedly different responses to IPA, with opposing effects on learning behaviour and memory generalisation, and that strikingly similar responses can be elicited by allatostatins, in particular ASTCC. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that allatostatins mediate stress reactivity in honey bees and suggest responses to stress in these insects are state dependent.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0174321