Journal
EMBO REPORTS
Volume 12, Issue 3, Pages 238-243Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1038/embor.2011.9
Keywords
Apis mellifera; epigenetic; HDAC inhibitor; phenotypic plasticity; royal jelly
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Funding
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [NIEHS ES007784]
- German Research Foundation [SP 1262/1-1]
- Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica
- Universita di Salerno, Italy
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Worker and queen bees are genetically indistinguishable. However, queen bees are fertile, larger and have a longer lifespan than their female worker counterparts. Differential feeding of larvae with royal jelly controls this caste switching. There is emerging evidence that the queen-bee phenotype is driven by epigenetic mechanisms. In this study, we show that royal jelly-the secretion produced by the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of worker bees-has histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) activity. A fatty acid, (E)-10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10HDA), which accounts for up to 5% of royal jelly, harbours this HDACi activity. Furthermore, 10HDA can reactivate the expression of epigenetically silenced genes in mammalian cells. Thus, the epigenetic regulation of queen-bee development is probably driven, in part, by HDACi activity in royal jelly.
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