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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Bee Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #309974
Title: Proteomics analysis reveals protein expression differences for hypopharyngeal gland activity in the honeybee, Apis mellifera carnica Pollmann

Author
item TING, JI - Yangzhou University
item ZHENGUO, LIU - Yangzhou University
item JIE, SHEN - Yangzhou University
item FANG, SHEN - Yangzhou University
item QIN, LIANG - Fujian Agricultural & Forestry University
item LIMING, WU - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item GUOHONG, CHEN - Yangzhou University
item Corona, Miguel

Submitted to: BMC Genomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/15/2014
Publication Date: 11/15/2014
Citation: Ting, J., Zhenguo, L., Jie, S., Fang, S., Qin, L., Liming, W., Guohong, C., Corona, M.V. 2014. Proteomics analysis reveals protein expression differences for hypopharyngeal gland activity in the honeybee, Apis mellifera carnica Pollmann. Biomed Central (BMC) Genomics. 15(1):1.

Interpretive Summary: The hypopharyngeal glands (HG) are important secretory glands which are involved in the production of royal jelly for feeding larvae, queens and adult bees. In this study we performed deep analysis of the proteins expressed in the hypopharyngeal glands of honey bees at different ages. Our study showed that HGs experienced important changes in protein expression during their development and provided important information about the molecular mechanism involved in the secretion of the proteins produced in these glands. Our results contribute to the understanding of the function of royal jelly proteins, which have a critical importance for honey bee nutrition. This study is of direct interest for the scientific community and has future applications in improving honey bee nutrition especially during the larval stages

Technical Abstract: Most of the proteins contained in royal jelly (RJ) are secreted from the hypopharyngeal glands (HG) of young bees. Although generic protein composition of RJ has been investigated, little is known about how age-dependent changes on HG secretion affect RJ composition and their biological consequences. In this study, we identified differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) during HG development by using the isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) labeling technique. This proteomic method increases the potential for new protein discovery by improving the identification of low quantity proteins. A total of 1282 proteins were identified from five age groups of worker bees, 284 of which were differentially expressed. 43 (15.1%) of the DEPs were identified for the first time. Comparison of samples at day 6, 9, 12, and 16 of development relative to day 3 led to the unambiguous identification of 112, 117, 127, and 127 DEPs, respectively. The majority of these DEPs were up-regulated in the older worker groups, indicating a substantial change in the pattern of proteins expressed after 3 days. DEPs were identified among all the age groups, suggesting that changes in protein expression during HG ontogeny are concomitant with different states of worker development. A total of 649 proteins were mapped to canonical signaling pathways found in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), which were preferentially associated with metabolism and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. More than 10 key high-abundance proteins were involved in signaling pathways related to ribosome function and protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum. The results were validated by qPCR.Our approach demonstrates that HG experienced important changes in protein expression during its ontogenic development, which supports the secretion of proteins involved in diverse functions in adult workers beyond its traditional role in royal jelly production.