Expression levels of glutamate and serotonin receptor genes in the brain of different behavioural phenotypes of worker honeybee (Apis mellifera)

Abstract

Social insect colonies are known for their efficient system of task specialization. In this study, we analyzed the brain expression level of glutamate and serotonin receptor genes in different behavioural phenotypes of (Apis mellifera) workers by qRT-PCR. The glutamate receptor genes include the ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) genes and metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluRs) genes, and has 9 orthologous genes in honeybee, such as the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) genes, NMDAR1 and NMDAR2, the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4isoxazole receptor (AMPAR) genes, AMPAR ∆2-a, AMPAR ∆2-b, AMPAR ∆2-c, AMPAR ∆2-d, and the mGluR1, mGluR4 and mGluR7. Our results showed that: the relative expression level of NMDAR genes was much higher in newly emerged workers (NW) than in young nurses (YN) and “old” foragers (OF) (P < 0.001); both NW and YN had a significantly higher relative expression level of AMPAR ∆2-b, AMPAR ∆2-c and AMPAR ∆2-d than in OF (P < 0.05). than in YN and OF; the relative expression level of mGluR7 gene in OF was significantly higher than in NW (P > 0.05), but there were no significant differences among NW, YN, and OF for the relative expression level of mGluR1 and mGluR4 gene (P > 0.05); in the case of Serotonin (5-HT), the relative expression level of the 5-HT1 gene showed no significant difference between YN and OF (P > 0.05), but was higher in YN and OF than in NW (P < 0.001). Above results indicate that some glutamate and serotonin receptor genes may play important roles in honeybee age-dependent role change

Keywords

• Apis mellifera, age, brain, iGluRs, mGluRs, 5-HT

Farklı davranış fenotiplerinde işçi bal arısı (Apis mellifera), beyninde glutamat ve serotonin reseptör genlerinin ekspresyon düzeyleri

Öz

Sosyal böcekler görev dağılımının en bilinen sistemleridir. Bu çalışmada, qRT-PCR ile bal arası (Apis mellifera) işçilerinin farklı davranış fenotiplerinde beyinde bulunan glutamat ve serotonin reseptör genlerinin ekspresyon seviyeleri analiz edilmiştir. Glutamat reseptör geni; İyonotropik glutamat reseptörü (iGluR) ve metabotropik glutamat reseptörü (mGluR'ler) genlerini kapsar. Balarısında Glutamat reseptör geni, N-metil-D-aspartat reseptör (NMDAR) genleri, NMDAR1 ve NMDAR2, α-amino-3-hidroksi-5-metil-4-izoksazol reseptörü (AMPAR) genleri, AMPAR ∆2-a AMPAR ∆2-b AMPAR ∆2-c AMPAR ∆2-d ve mGluR1, mGluR4 ve mGluR7 olmak üzere 9 ortolog gene sahiptir. Sonuçlarımıza göre: NMDAR geninin ekspresyon düzeyi yeni çıkış yapmış işçilerde (NW), genç (YN) ve yaşlı bireylere (OF) oranla çok daha yüksek bulunmuşken (p<0.001); işçi arıların ve genç bireylerin her ikisinde yaşlı bireylerden belirgin bir şekilde daha yüksek oranda Ampar ∆2-b, Ampar ∆2-c ve Ampar ∆2-d gen ekspresyon düzeyi saptanmıştır (P<0.05). Yaşlı bireylerde mGluR7 geninin ekspresyon düzeyi işçi arılardan belirgin olarak daha yüksek iken (P>0.05); genç, yaşlı ve işçi arıların hepsinde mGluR1 ve mGluR4 genlerinin ekspresyon düzeyleri açısından (p>0.05) anlamlı bir fark bulunamamıştır. Serotonin (5-HT) söz konusu olduğunda, 5-HT1 geninin ekspresyon seviyesi bakımından genç ve yaşlı bireyler arasında anlamlı bir fark çıkmamıştır (P>0.05) ancak aynı genin ifadesi genç ve yaşlı bireylerde işçi arılara göre daha yüksek bulunmuştur (P<0.001). Yukarıdaki sonuçlar, bazı glutamat ve serotonin reseptör genlerinin arılarda yaşa bağlı görev değişikliğinde önemli roller oynayabileceğini göstermiştir

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Apis mellifera, yaş, beyin, iGluRs, mGluRs, 5-HT

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