Collaborative Research: Octopamine-Mediated Behavioral Development in Honey Bees --Social and Endocrine Regulation of Tyramine Beta Hydroxylase

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

Biogenic amines are compounds that can act as modulators of nervous system function and behavior in vertebrates and invertebrates. Octopamine is one of these, and one of the most widely studied neuromodulators in arthropods. In honeybees, octopamine plays a role in controlling behavioral plasticity. Levels of octopamine are higher in the brains of forager bees that leave the hive to get food compared to levels in nurse bees that work inside the hive, and treatment with octopamine causes bees to forage precociously. A particular enzyme, tyramine beta-hydoxylase (TbH) is critical for biosynthesis of octopamine, so brain levels of octopamine depend at least in part on the activity of TbH. This collaborative project uses molecular, biochemcial and behavioral approaches to determine how TbH is regulated by both social and endocrine factors. Enzyme activity, gene expression, and metabolic biochemistry clarify how octopamine is synthesized and released in the antennal lobes of the brain of honeybees during development of the behavioral change. Results will be important to understanding how an important neuromodulator is regulated in the context of behavioral plastiticty and in socially regulated gene expression. This work will have impact beyond neuroendocrinology to animal behavior and to agricultural applications. There is also an important component of student training at the predominantly undergraduate institution involved in the collaboration.