Reproductive protein protects functionally sterile honey bee workers from oxidative stress
Reproductive protein protects functionally sterile honey bee workers from oxidative stress
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0502681103
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发表时间：
2006-01-24
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Amdam, GV
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Seehuus, SC;Norberg, K;Amdam, GV
关于衰老的研究表明，生育和衰老的调节途径是密切相关的。然而，社会物种的进化理论提出，对后代的终身照顾可以塑造衰老过程，而不仅仅是生殖能力的限制。这些观察结果表明，在社会有机体中，随着对后代的持续照顾，衰老的控制回路被重塑。在这里，我们研究了蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）的衰老回路。蜜蜂的特点是存在一个长寿的生殖女王种姓和一个寿命较短的种姓的女性工人是终身的异母照顾者。我们专注于保守的蛋黄前体基因卵黄蛋白原，在秀丽隐杆线虫，缩短寿命的胰岛素/胰岛素样生长因子信号级联的下游元件的作用。卵黄原蛋白质在蜂后中以高水平合成，并且在长寿的工蜂中丰富。我们建立了卵黄蛋白原基因活性保护工蜂免受氧化应激。我们的发现表明，对蜜蜂长寿模式的一种机械解释是，生殖调节途径被重塑以延长寿命。这种观点是相当相关的长寿调节，主要建立在推断从孤立的模式物种的研究。
Research on aging shows that regulatory pathways of fertility and senescence are closely interlinked. However, evolutionary theories on social species propose that lifelong care for offspring can shape the course of senescence beyond the restricted context of reproductive capability. These observations suggest that control circuits of aging are remodeled in social organisms with continuing care for offspring. Here, we studied a circuit of aging in the honey bee (Apis mellifera). The bee is characterized by the presence of a long-lived reproductive queen caste and a shorter-lived caste of female workers that are life-long alloparental care givers. We focus on the role of the conserved yolk precursor gene vitellogenin that, in Caenorhabditis elegans, shortens lifespan as a downstream element of the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling cascade. Vitellogenin protein is synthesized at high levels in honey bee queens and is abundant in long-lived workers. We establish that vitellogenin gene activity protects worker bees from oxidative stress. Our finding suggests that one mechanistic explanation for patterns of longevity in bees is that a reproductive regulatory pathway has been remodeled to extend life. This perspective is of considerable relevance to research on longevity regulation that builds largely on inference from solitary model species.