Reproduction of honeybee workers is regulated by epidermal growth factor receptor signaling

General and Comparative Endocrinology
Ellen M FormesynDirk C DE Graaf

Abstract

Eusocial insect societies display a remarkable reproductive division of labor between a single fertile queen and thousands of largely sterile workers. In most species, however, the workers retain the capacity to reproduce, particularly in queenless colonies where typically many workers lay eggs. As yet, the molecular determinants that initiate this shift in worker fertility are still poorly documented. By using RNA interference we here demonstrate that the knockdown of epidermal growth factor receptor, a gene which was previously shown to be involved in queen-worker caste differentiation, also induces reproduction in worker honeybees (Apis mellifera). These data show that worker fertility and queen-worker caste determination partly rely on the same gene regulatory networks, thereby providing a major breakthrough in our understanding of the molecular determinants of the social insects' spectacular reproductive division of labor.

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Citations

Dec 3, 2014·Experimental Gerontology·Giel DetienneLiesbet Temmerman
May 31, 2018·Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B, Molecular and Developmental Evolution·Evelien JongepierJudith Korb
Mar 7, 2020·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Elizabeth J DuncanPeter K Dearden
Feb 16, 2020·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Elias DohmenCarsten Kemena

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