How honeybees defy gravity with royal jelly to raise queens

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Authors

Buttstedt, Anja
Muresxan, Carmen I.
Lilie, Hauke
Schulze, Stefan-H.
Pietzsch, Markus
Moritz, Robin F.A.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier (Cell Press)

Abstract

The female sex in honeybees (Apis spp.) comprises a reproductive queen and a sterile worker caste. Nurse bees feed all larvae progressively with a caste-specific food jelly until the prepupal stage. Only those larvae that are exclusively fed a large amount of royal jelly (RJ) develop into queens [1]. RJ is a composite secretion of two specialized head glands: the mandibular glands, which produce mainly fatty acids [2], and the hypopharyngeal glands, which contribute proteins, primarily belonging to the major royal jelly protein (MRJP) family [3]. Past research on RJ has focused on its nutritional function and overlooked its central role with regard to the orientation of the larva in the royal brood cell. Whereas workers are reared in the regular horizontal cells of the comb, the queen cells are specifically built outside of the normal comb area to accommodate for the larger queen [4, 5]. These cells hang freely along the bottom of the comb and are vertically oriented, opening downward [6]. Queen larvae are attached by their RJ diet to the cell ceiling. Thus, the physical properties of RJ are central to successful retention of larvae in the cell. Here, we show that the main protein of RJ (MRJP1) polymerizes in complex with another protein, apisimin, into long fibrous structures that build the basis for the high viscosity of RJ to hold queen larvae on the RJ surface.

Description

Document S1. Figures S1–S4 and Table S1.
Data S1. Mass Spectrometric Identification of OligoMRJP1, MonoMRJP1, and Apisimin, Related to Figure 1.

Keywords

Nurse bees, Fatty acids, Queen cells, Honeybee (Apis mellifera), Royal jelly (RJ), Major royal jelly protein (MRJP), Social insect, Queen determination, Apisimin, Apalbumin

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Buttstedt, A., Mureşan, C.I., Lilie, H. et al. 2018, 'How honeybees defy gravity with royal jelly to raise queens', Current Biology, vol. 28, pp. 1095-1100.