Variation in and Responses to Brood Pheromone of the Honey Bee (APIS mellifera L.)

• Published in: Journal of chemical ecology 2010-04, Vol.36 (4), p.432-440
• Main Authors: Metz, Bradley N, Pankiw, Tanya, Tichy, Shane E, Aronstein, Katherine A, Crewe, Robin M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Africa; Agriculture; Animal and plant ecology; Animal behavior; Animal productions; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Apiculture; Apis mellifera; Apis mellifera scutellata; Bees; Bees - chemistry; Bees - genetics; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Microscopy; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemical ecology; Chromatography; Discriminant Analysis; DNA, Mitochondrial; Ecology; Entomology; Europe; fatty acid esters; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gas chromatography; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; General aspects; Honey; honey bee brood; honey bees; insect behavior; insect pheromones; insect sociobiology; Insecta; Invertebrates; Larva - chemistry; Larvae; Life Sciences; Mass spectrometry; Pheromones; Pheromones - chemistry; Pheromones - physiology; Pollen; provenance; Sucrose; Terrestrial animal productions
• ISSN: 0098-0331; 1573-1561
• DOI: 10.1007/s10886-010-9775-5

The 10 fatty acid ester components of brood pheromone were extracted from larvae of different populations of USA and South African honey bees and subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry quantitative analysis. Extractable amounts of brood pheromone were not significantly different by larval population; however, differences in the proportions of components enabled us to classify larval population of 77% of samples correctly by discriminant analysis. Honeybee releaser and primer pheromone responses to USA,Africanized and-European pheromone blends were tested. Texas-Africanized and Georgia-European colonies responded with a significantly greater ratio of returning pollen foragers when treated with a blend from the same population than from a different population. There was a significant interaction of pheromone blend by adult population source among Georgia-European bees for modulation of sucrose response threshold, a primer response. Brood pheromone blend variation interacted with population for pollen foraging response of colonies, suggesting a self recognition cue for this pheromone releaser behavior. An interaction of pheromone blend and population for priming sucrose response thresholds among workers within the first week of adult life suggested a more complex interplay of genotype, ontogeny, and pheromone blend.