Project Details
Projekt
Understanding task-related changes in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in honey bees
Subject Area
Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566108840
The Western honey bee Apis mellifera, a model species for studying eusociality, shows a strong age-dependent division of labor (polyethism). These age-dependent changes in behavioral tasks are crucial for the survival of a honey bee colony. Honey bees also change their cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles with tasks over lifetime, which is most likely essential for intraspecific communication and/or for adaptation to environmental stress. However, neither the mechanisms nor the functions of these age-dependent changes in CHC profiles are understood. In the proposed project, we aim to investigate (a) the factors responsible for the CHC changes such as social role, age and the biotic environment, (b) which hydrocarbons from the CHC profile can be perceived and discriminated by honey bees, and (c) the role of juvenile hormones and differential expression of genes in the CHC biosynthetic pathway. In addition to their function in intraspecific communication, CHC profiles are known to play an important role in regulating the water budget/hydrologic balance in insects. We therefore hypothesize that changes in CHC profile enable both task-specific communication and protection against desiccation. They should be both age-dependent and task-specific. To gain these insights, we will combine methods such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, behavioral assays, electroantennography, calcium imaging and molecular methods such as RNA interference and CRISPR/Cas9.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
