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Age‐ and division‐of‐labour‐dependent differential expression of a novel non‐coding RNA, Nb‐1 , in the brain of worker honeybees, Apis mellifera L.
Author(s) -
Tadano H.,
Yamazaki Y.,
Takeuchi H.,
Kubo T.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
insect molecular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.955
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2583
pISSN - 0962-1075
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2583.2009.00911.x
Subject(s) - biology , juvenile hormone , open reading frame , octopamine (neurotransmitter) , gene , complementary dna , gene expression , microbiology and biotechnology , rna , endocrinology , medicine , hormone , genetics , peptide sequence , receptor , serotonin
To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying honeybee social behaviours, we identified a novel gene, Nb‐1 , whose expression in the worker brain changes according to the age‐dependent division of labour in normal colonies. The open reading frames contained in the Nb‐1 cDNA were not conserved in the homologue of a related species, suggesting that the Nb‐1 gene product is a non‐coding RNA. The distribution of Nb‐1‐ expressing cells partially overlapped that of octopamine‐immunoreactive cells and neurosecretory cells, the latter of which are involved in the synthesis and secretion of juvenile hormone (JH). Octopamine and JH control worker task transition, and thus Nb‐1 might be involved in task transition through the modulation of octopamine/JH synthesis and secretion.