Understanding of Waggle Dance in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) from the Perspective of Long Non-Coding RNA

Simple Summary Dance behaviour of honey bee (Apis mellifera) is highly sophisticated and a unique behavioural pattern that ensures effective and high-quality communication of food information. Honey bee dance behaviour has been discovered and elaborated for decades, but the regulatory mechanism underlying this behaviour is still unclear. In this study, by varying the food quality, such as the concentration of sucrose solution, we successfully manipulated the dance behaviour of honey bees. Then we investigated the effect of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and their target genes in honey bee brains on waggle dance. The results indicated that lncRNAs in brains of waggle dancers and non-dancing bees exhibited significant differences. Furthermore, lncRNA-mRNA association analysis showed that signal transduction in the brain may be participated in the modulation of waggle dance. Our findings suggested that neurotransmitters presumably served as messengers in the waggle dance. It is the first time that the waggle dance in the honey bee is studied from the perspective of long non-coding RNA. Taken together, this study is expected to provide a new pathway to explore the relationship between behaviour and brain. The ethological study of dance behaviour has yielded some findings since Karl Von Frisch discovered and interpreted the 'dance language' in the honey bee. However, the function and role of long non-coding RNAs on dance behaviour are hardly known until now. In this study, the differential expression patterns of lncRNAs in the brains of waggling dancers and non-dancing bees were analysed by RNA sequencing. Furthermore, lncRNA-mRNA association analysis was constructed to decipher the waggle dance. The results of RNA sequencing indicated that a total of 2877 lncRNAs and 9647 mRNAs were detected from honey bee brains. Further comparison analysis displayed that two lncRNAs, MSTRG.6803.3 and XR_003305156.1, may be involved in the waggle dance. The lncRNA-mRNA association analysis showed that target genes of differentially expressed lncRNAs in the brains between waggling dancers and non-dancing bees were mainly annotated in biological processes related to metabolic process, signalling and response to stimulus and in molecular function associated with signal transducer activity, molecular transducer activity and binding. Nitrogen metabolism was likely implicated in the modulation of the waggle dance. Our findings contribute to further understanding the occurrence and development of waggle dance.

Automated summary

This study successfully manipulated the dance behavior of honey bees by varying the food quality and investigated the effect of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in their brains on waggle dance. The results showed significant differences in lncRNAs between waggle dancers and non-dancing bees, suggesting involvement of brain signal transduction in the modulation of waggle dance. This study provides new insights into the relationship between behavior and brain function.