flow of incoming nectar through a honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colony as revealed by a protein marker

The flow of incoming nectar in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies was simulated by feeding a sucrose solution labeled with a novel protein (rabbit IgG) marker and then analyzing bee and colony samples using an enzymelinked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). The labeled sucrose solution was quickly tran...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Insectes sociaux 2000-01, Vol.47 (4), p.302-306
Main Authors: DeGrandi-Hoffman, G, Hagler, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal productions
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Apiculture
Apidae
Apis mellifera
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
honey bees
immunoglobulin G
Insecta
Invertebrates
larvae
nectar
nectar secretion
Protozoa. Invertebrata
rabbits
sucrose
Terrestrial animal productions
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The flow of incoming nectar in honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies was simulated by feeding a sucrose solution labeled with a novel protein (rabbit IgG) marker and then analyzing bee and colony samples using an enzymelinked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). The labeled sucrose solution was quickly transported to food storage and brood combs. Within 2h, equal percentages of worker bees from food storage combs, nurse bees and nectar samples tested positive for the marker. Percentages of nurse bees and larvae testing positive also were equal within the first 2 h of feeding it to a colony and these percentages increased over time. Our results suggest that workers with nectar loads deposit them into cells on either food storage or brood comb with equal frequency. The labeled sucrose solution transported to the brood comb is subsequently used by nurse bees to feed larvae. How the deposition of incoming nectar in brood comb might possibly integrate the activities of foragers and nurse bees is discussed.
ISSN:1420-9098
0020-1812
1420-9098
DOI:10.1007/PL00001720