https://phys.org/news/2024-11-honeybee-gene-behavior.html Phys.org Topics * Week's top * Latest news * Unread news * Subscribe [ ] Science X Account [ ] [ ] [*] Remember me Sign In Click here to sign in with or Forget Password? Not a member? Sign up Learn more * Nanotechnology * Physics * Earth * Astronomy & Space * Chemistry * Biology * Other Sciences * Medical Xpress Medicine * Tech Xplore Technology [INS::INS] * * share this! * 108 * Twit * Share * Email 1. Home 2. Biology 3. Ecology 1. Home 2. Biology 3. Molecular & Computational biology * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------- November 1, 2024 Editors' notes This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread Honeybee gene specifies collective behavior, research shows by Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf Bee gene specifies collective behavior Each honeybee is labeled with a QR code so that their individual behavior can be tracked. Credit: HHU / Christoph Kawan Researchers at Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf (HHU) are collaborating with colleagues from Frankfurt/Main, Oxford and Wurzburg to investigate how the complex, cooperative behavior of honeybees (Apis mellifera) is genetically programmed so that it can be passed on to subsequent generations. As they explain in the journal Science Advances, they found an answer in what is known as the doublesex gene (dsx). Behavioral interactions between organisms are fundamental and often inherited. Every human being and every animal interacts with other individuals in its social group in one way or another through its behavior. In the animal kingdom, this has considerable advantages in collective foraging for food, defense against predators and the rearing of offspring. In some animals, such as honeybees, the social behavior bonds are so strong that the individual members form a tight-knit society that functions collectively as a single "superorganism." Through their individual behavior, thousands of worker bees protect the entire colony, feed it and care for the brood. Professor Dr. Martin Beye, who heads the Institute of Evolutionary Genetics at HHU and is the corresponding author of the study, emphasizes, "The behavioral repertoire of the individual bees and their function in the colony are not learned, but rather inherited. Until now, it was not known how such complex behaviors were genetically encoded." Together with colleagues from the universities in Frankfurt/Main, Oxford and Wurzburg, the team of researchers at HHU led by Beye and first author Dr. Vivien Sommer has now discovered that a special gene known as dsx specifies worker bee-specific behavior. Bee gene specifies collective behavior The neuronal network in the bee's brain appears in green. Credit: HHU / Institute for Evolutionary Genetics Sommer says, "The gene programs whether a worker bee takes up a task in the colony and for how long. This includes collective tasks such as caring for the larvae or foraging for food and social exchanges on food sources, for example." The biologists used the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors in their investigations to modify or switch off the dsx gene in selected bees. They attached a QR code to the manipulated bees, then monitored their behavior in the hive with cameras. The resulting video sequences were analyzed with the support of artificial intelligence to determine the bees' individual behavioral patterns. [INS::INS] Sommer adds, "Our central question was whether and how the inherited behavioral patterns changed as a result of the gene modification. Such changes must be reflected in the nervous system of the worker bees where the specific behavior is controlled." The researchers introduced green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the dsx sequence so that GFP was produced together with the dsx protein. The neuronal circuits could then be viewed using fluorescence microscopy, in both the unmodified bees and in those with genetic modifications. "We were able to use these tools to see exactly which neural pathways the dsx gene creates in the brain and how this gene in turn specifies the inherited behavioral patterns of honeybees," explains doctoral researcher Jana Seiler, who is also a co-author of the study. "Our findings indicate a fundamental genetic program that determines the neuronal circuitry and behavior of worker bees," says Professor Dr. Wolfgang Rossler from the Department of Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, who led the study at the University of Wurzburg. In the next step, the researchers now want to move from the level of the individual honeybee to the bee colony superorganism. Alina Sturm, who is also a doctoral researcher at HHU and study co-author, adds, "We hope to find the link between individual programming and the coordinated behavior of many individuals." More information: Vivien Sommer et al, Dedicated developmental programming for group-supporting behaviors in eusocial honeybees, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp3953. www.science.org /doi/10.1126/sciadv.adp3953 Journal information: Science Advances Provided by Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf Citation: Honeybee gene specifies collective behavior, research shows (2024, November 1) retrieved 10 November 2024 from https://phys.org/ news/2024-11-honeybee-gene-behavior.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. 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