Abstract
9-Oxo-2-decenoic acid (9-ODA, the predominant component of honeybee queen mandibular pheromones) acts as a sex pheromone attracting drones during mating flights in midair. Odorant receptor 11 (Or11), which is located on the membrane of antennal olfaction receptor neurons in bees, can specifically recognize 9-ODA. At present, the molecular pathway of honeybee drones responding to 9-ODA is still unclear. Studies have demonstrated that 9-ODA could downregulate the expression of Krüppel-homolog1 (Kr-h1, a transcription factor related to the regulation of reproduction and division of labor mediated by juvenile hormone) gene in the mushroom of honeybee brain. We speculate that Kr-h1 may be the downstream gene of Or11, which is involved in the pathway of drones responding to 9-ODA. Therefore, we analyzed the influence of 9-ODA on the expression of Or11 and Kr-h1 in the antennae of sexually immature (4 days) and mature (14 days) male honeybees (Apis mellifera) by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The results demonstrated that 9-ODA significantly downregulated the expression of Or11 and Kr-h1 in the antennae of sexually immature and mature drones. Additionally, siRNA-Or11 was injected into the antennae and brain tissues of 8-day-old drone pupae, and the expression patterns of Or11, Kr-h1 and Broad-Complex (Br–c, downstream gene of Kr-h1) were determined by qPCR at 72 h. The RNAi-induced knockdown of Or11 significantly decreased the expression of Or11, Kr-h1 and Br–c in the antennae and brains of drones. This study suggests that the transcription factor Kr-h1 is downstream of Or11, Kr-h1, which may play an important role in the signal transduction process of drones responding to 9-ODA.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Frederick Partridge and anonymous reviewers for their comments that improved this manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31572469) and the Earmarked Fund for the China Agricultural Research System (CARS-44-KXJ15).
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31572469) and the Earmarked Fund for the China Agricultural Research System (CARS-44-KXJ15).
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Conceived and designed the experiments: ZJZ. Performed the experiments: JFL. Analyzed the data: JFL XJW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ZLW XJH. Wrote the paper: JFL XJW.
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Supplementary file3 (TIF 1429 kb) SI Fig. 3 The developmental state of drone pupae at 0 h (A), 24 h (B), 48 h (C) and 72 h (D) after injection
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Liu, J.F., Wan, X.J., Wang, Z.L. et al. Influence of RNA interference-mediated reduction of Or11 on the expression of transcription factor Kr-h1 in Apis mellifera drones. Insect. Soc. 67, 411–418 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-020-00775-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-020-00775-4