Neural Mechanisms of Hygienic Behavior in the Honey Bee

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Neural mechanisms of hygienic behavior in the honeybeeLay SummaryMarla SpivakKaren A. MesceThe long-term goal of this project is to understand how relatively small genetic differences within a species translate into significant differences in behavior that are based on how neural circuits are 'wired up' versus how neurohormones differentially modify the functioning of similar neural circuits. Honey bees bred for hygienic behavior will be studied and compared to unselected bees that exhibit less hygienic behavior. Hygienic bees detect and remove diseased and parasitized brood from their nest more readily than non-hygienic bees. The honey bee industry is keenly interested in hygienic lines of bees because they are more resistant to diseases and parasitic mites. More significant, however, is the potential that this study will contribute to a better understanding of how a class of compounds, the biogenic amines, contributes to behavioral alterations in humans. The biogenic amines include serotonin, dopamine, and adrenaline-related substances. These neuroactive substances are critically important to human mood disorders, learning and memory, and numerous diseases including Parkinson's disease. A central hypothesis of this study is that octopamine, a neurohormone related to noradrenaline, contributes to the shaping of the behavioral differences between hygienic and non-hygienic bees. Hygienic bees have increased olfactory sensitivity and responsiveness to diseased brood compared to non-hygienic bees. In essence, it is proposed that neural networks underlying hygienic behavior are 'polymorphic' and thus can be shifted or biased into a mode in which hygienic behavioral expression is activated more or less easily. It is theorized that relatively small genetic differences among animal species may translate into disproportionately large differences in behavior if shared polymorphic neural networks are differentially regulated by octopamine (or dopamine). The specific aims are as follows: 1) determine the relationship between the expression of hygienic behavior and other important honey bee behaviors; 2) Examine the olfactory sensitivity of hygienic and non-hygienic bees, and the role of olfaction in the expression of hygienic behavior; 3) Determine the role of octopamine and dopamine in the expression of hygienic behavior.