The Role of Genotypic Diversity in the Regulation of Honeybee Foraging

基因型多样性在蜜蜂觅食调节中的作用

• 批准号: 9110561
• 负责人: Jennifer Fewell
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1991
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1991-08-01 至 1993-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9110561&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Genotypic; Diversity; Regulation; Honeybee

A key requirement of division of labor in social insect colonies is the ability to respond flexibly to environmental change. This ability is crucial to survival in variable environments. Recent evidence suggests a significant part of observed behavioral variation in social insect colonies is genetically based. In the research, the role of genetic variation in colony flexibility and task regulation by the honey bee, Apis mellifera will be examined. Dr. Fewell will examine stimulus threshold model which describes how genotypic diversity may function as a mechanism for regulating division of labor in social insects. This model proposes that individual workers have genetically linked thresholds to perform a given task, and that a range of genotypic within a colony provides a range of tendencies to perform that task. From this model, one can predict that the genotypic composition of the population performing a task will change as environmental conditions and, therefore, stimulus environments change. Dr. Fewell will test this prediction by changing colony need for pollen and measuring associated changes in the genetic composition of the pollen and nectar foraging populations. This will be the first experimental test of the role of genotypic variation in social insect foraging regulation. These studies will address the important question of whether current hypotheses on the role of genotype in honey bee foraging apply to naturally mated colonies. They also will involve the application of a new set of molecular genetic techniques, PCR and RAPD analysis, to behavioral questions in social insects.

社会昆虫群体分工的一个关键要求是灵活应对环境变化的能力。这种能力对于在多变的环境中生存至关重要。最近的证据表明，在观察到的群居昆虫群体的行为变化中，有很大一部分是基于遗传的。本研究将探讨遗传变异在蜜蜂群体灵活性和任务调节中的作用。Fewell博士将研究刺激阈值模型，该模型描述了基因型多样性如何作为调节社会性昆虫劳动分工的机制发挥作用。该模型提出，个体工蚁有基因关联的阈值来执行给定的任务，并且群体内的一系列基因型提供了执行该任务的一系列倾向。从这个模型中，人们可以预测执行任务的群体的基因型组成将随着环境条件的变化而变化，因此，刺激环境也会变化。Fewell博士将通过改变蜂群对花粉的需求和测量花粉和花蜜觅食种群基因组成的相关变化来验证这一预测。这将是首次对基因型变异在群居昆虫觅食调节中的作用进行实验测试。这些研究将解决一个重要的问题，即目前关于基因型在蜜蜂觅食中的作用的假设是否适用于自然交配的蜂群。他们还将涉及应用一套新的分子遗传技术，PCR和RAPD分析，以解决社会性昆虫的行为问题。