title: Variation in and responses to brood pheromone of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.).
abstract: The 10 fatty acid ester components of brood pheromone were extracted from larvae of different populations of USA and South African honey bees and subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry quantitative analysis. Extractable amounts of brood pheromone were not significantly different by larval population; however, differences in the proportions of components enabled us to classify larval population of 77% of samples correctly by discriminant analysis. Honeybee releaser and primer pheromone responses to USA, Africanized and-European pheromone blends were tested. Texas-Africanized and Georgia-European colonies responded with a significantly greater ratio of returning pollen foragers when treated with a blend from the same population than from a different population. There was a significant interaction of pheromone blend by adult population source among Georgia-European bees for modulation of sucrose response threshold, a primer response. Brood pheromone blend variation interacted with population for pollen foraging response of colonies, suggesting a self recognition cue for this pheromone releaser behavior. An interaction of pheromone blend and population for priming sucrose response thresholds among workers within the first week of adult life suggested a more complex interplay of genotype, ontogeny, and pheromone blend.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. bmetz@tamu.edu
authors.forename: Bradley N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Metz
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pankiw
authors.forename: Shane E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Tichy
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Aronstein
authors.forename: Robin M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Crewe
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005060:Europe; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D007814:Larva / Q000737:chemistry; D010675:Pheromones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D011058:Pollen; D013395:Sucrose
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D010675:Pheromones; D013395:Sucrose