Social organization in highly eusocial bees relies upon two important processes: caste differentiation in female larvae, and age polyethism in adult workers. Juvenile Hormone (JH) is a key regulator of both processes. Here we investigated the expression of two genes involved in JH metabolism - mfe (biosynthesis) and jhe (degradation) - in the context of social organization in the stingless bee Melipona interrupta. We found evidence that the expression of mfe and jhe genes is related to changes in JH levels during late larval development, where caste determination occurs. Also, both mfe and jhe were upregulated when workers engage in intranidal tasks, but only jhe expression was downregulated at the transition from nursing to foraging activities. This relation is different than expected, considering recent reports of lower JH levels in foragers than nurses in the closely related species Melipona scutellaris. Our findings suggest that highly eusocial bees have different mechanisms to regulate JH and, thus, to maintain their level of social organization.

中文翻译：

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法尼索酸甲酯环氧化酶 (mfe) 和保幼激素酯酶 (jhe) 基因的表达及其与无刺蜂 Melipona Interrupta（膜翅目：蜜蜂科）社会组织的关系。


高度社会性蜜蜂的社会组织依赖于两个重要的过程：雌性幼虫的种姓分化和成年工蜂的年龄多民族主义。保幼激素 (JH) 是这两个过程的关键调节剂。在这里，我们研究了无刺蜂的社会组织背景下参与 JH 代谢的两个基因——mfe（生物合成）和 jhe（降解）的表达。我们发现证据表明，mfe 和 jhe 基因的表达与幼虫发育晚期（种姓决定发生）期间 JH 水平的变化有关。此外，当工蚁从事腹内任务时，mfe 和 jhe 表达上调，但只有 jhe 表达在从哺乳活动过渡到觅食活动时下调。这种关系与预期不同，考虑到最近的报告称，在密切相关的物种 Melipona scutellaris 中，觅食者的 JH 水平低于护士。我们的研究结果表明，高度社会性的蜜蜂有不同的机制来调节 JH，从而维持其社会组织水平。