Transcriptional Control of Honey Bee () by 20-Hydroxyecdysone.

One of the first tasks of worker honey bees () during their lifetime is to feed the larval offspring. In brief, young workers (nurse bees) secrete a special food jelly that contains a large amount of unique major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs). The regulation of gene expression is not well understood, but the large upregulation in well-fed nurse bees suggests a tight repression until, or a massive induction upon, hatching of the adult worker bees. The lipoprotein vitellogenin, the synthesis of which is regulated by the two systemic hormones 20-hydroxyecdysone and juvenile hormone, is thought to be a precursor for the production of MRJPs. Thus, the regulation of expression by the said systemic hormones is likely. This study focusses on the role of 20-hydroxyecdysone by elucidating its effect on gene expression dynamics. Specifically, we tested whether 20-hydroxyecdysone displayed differential effects on various s. We found that the expression of the s () that were finally secreted in large amounts into the food jelly, in particular, were down regulated by 20-hydroxyecdysone treatment, with showing the highest repression value.