Social insects are notable for having two female castes that exhibit extreme differences in their reproductive capacity. The molecular basis of these differences is largely unknown. Vitellogenin (Vg) is a powerful antioxidant and insulin‐signalling regulator used in oocyte development. Here we investigate how Royal Jelly (the major food of honeybee queens) and queen mandibular pheromone (a major regulator of worker fertility), affect the longevity and reproductive status of honey bee workers, the expression of Vg, its receptor VgR and associated regulatory proteins. We find that Vg is expressed in the ovaries of workers and that workers fed a queen diet of Royal Jelly have increased Vg expression in the ovaries. Surprisingly, we find that expression of Vg is not associated with ovary activation in workers, suggesting that this gene has potentially acquired non‐reproductive functions. Therefore, Vg expression in the ovaries of honeybee workers provides further support for the Ovarian Ground Plan Hypothesis, which argues that genes implicated in the regulation of reproduction have been co‐opted to regulate behavioural differences between queens and workers.

中文翻译：

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成年蜜蜂工作者卵巢中卵黄蛋白原的表达提供了对生殖和社会特征进化的见解

群居昆虫的显着特点是拥有两个在生殖能力上表现出极端差异的雌性种姓。这些差异的分子基础在很大程度上是未知的。卵黄蛋白原 (Vg) 是一种强大的抗氧化剂和胰岛素信号调节剂，用于卵母细胞发育。在这里，我们研究蜂王浆（蜜蜂蜂王的主要食物）和蜂王下颌信息素（工蜂生育力的主要调节剂）如何影响蜜蜂工蜂的寿命和繁殖状态、Vg的表达、其受体VgR和相关的调节蛋白. 我们发现Vg在工人的卵巢中表达，并且喂食蜂王浆的工人增加了Vg卵巢中的表达。令人惊讶的是，我们发现Vg 的表达与工人的卵巢激活无关，这表明该基因具有潜在的非生殖功能。因此，蜜蜂工蚁卵巢中的Vg表达为卵巢基本计划假说提供了进一步的支持，该假说认为与生殖调控有关的基因已被用来调节蜂王和工蜂之间的行为差​​异。