Behavioral plasticity in honey bees is associated with differences in brain microRNA transcriptome.
Behavioral plasticity in honey bees is associated with differences in brain microRNA transcriptome.
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1601-183x.2012.00782.x
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发表时间：
2012-08
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Ben-Shahar Y
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Greenberg JK;Xia J;Zhou X;Thatcher SR;Gu X;Ament SA;Newman TC;Green PJ;Zhang W;Robinson GE;Ben-Shahar Y
小的非编码microRNA（miRNAs）参与了许多生物学过程，包括神经系统的发育。然而，miRNAs在自然行为和神经元可塑性中的作用还不清楚。为了帮助解决这个问题，我们描述了成年工蜂头部的microRNA转录组，并研究了大脑中microRNA表达水平的变化是否与蜜蜂之间的劳动分工有关，这是一种社会调节行为的成熟模型。我们确定了几种miRNAs在蜜蜂中下调，这些蜜蜂专门从事育雏护理（护士）相对于觅食者。其他实验表明，这种下调依赖于社会背景;它只发生在护士蜜蜂也包含觅食的殖民地。对Hyattera中脑表达的miRNA的保守模式的分析表明某些miRNA在Aculeata的进化中发挥作用，Aculeata包括所有的真社会性Hyattera物种。我们的研究结果支持了一个有趣的假设，即miRNAs是发育和进化时间尺度上社会行为的重要调节因子。
Small, non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in many biological processes, including the development of the nervous system. However, the roles of miRNAs in natural behavioral and neuronal plasticity are not well understood. To help address this we characterized the microRNA transcriptome in the adult worker honey bee head and investigated whether changes in microRNA expression levels in the brain are associated with division of labor among honey bees, a well-established model for socially regulated behavior. We determined that several miRNAs were downregulated in bees that specialize on brood care (nurses) relative to foragers. Additional experiments showed that this downregulation is dependent upon social context; it only occurred when nurse bees were in colonies that also contained foragers. Analyses of conservation patterns of brain-expressed miRNAs across Hymenoptera suggest a role for certain miRNAs in the evolution of the Aculeata, which includes all the eusocial hymenopteran species. Our results support the intriguing hypothesis that miRNAs are important regulators of social behavior at both developmental and evolutionary time scales.