title: Sensory reception of the primer pheromone ethyl oleate.
abstract: Social work force distribution in honeybee colonies critically depends on subtle adjustments of an age-related polyethism. Pheromones play a crucial role in adjusting physiological and behavioral maturation of nurse bees to foragers. In addition to primer effects of brood pheromone and queen mandibular pheromone--both were shown to influence onset of foraging--direct worker-worker interactions influence adult behavioral maturation. These interactions were narrowed down to the primer pheromone ethyl oleate, which is present at high concentrations in foragers, almost absent in young bees and was shown to delay the onset of foraging. Based on chemical analyses, physiological recordings from the antenna (electroantennograms) and the antennal lobe (calcium imaging), and behavioral assays (associative conditioning of the proboscis extension response), we present evidence that ethyl oleate is most abundant on the cuticle, received by olfactory receptors on the antenna, processed in glomeruli of the antennal lobe, and learned in olfactory centers of the brain. The results are highly suggestive that the primer pheromone ethyl oleate is transmitted and perceived between individuals via olfaction at close range.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, Biozentrum, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Muenz
authors.forename: Alban
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maisonnasse
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Plettner
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Le Conte
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rössler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D009829:Oleic Acids / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D055696:Olfactory Perception; D010675:Pheromones / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D009829:Oleic Acids; D010675:Pheromones; C033180:ethyl oleate