title: Recipe for a busy bee: microRNAs in Honey Bee caste determination.
abstract: Social caste determination in the honey bee is assumed to be determined by the dietary status of the young larvae and translated into physiological and epigenetic changes through nutrient-sensing pathways. We have employed Illumina/Solexa sequencing to examine the small RNA content in the bee larval food, and show that worker jelly is enriched in miRNA complexity and abundance relative to royal jelly. The miRNA levels in worker jelly were 7-215 fold higher than in royal jelly, and both jellies showed dynamic changes in miRNA content during the 4(th) to 6(th) day of larval development. Adding specific miRNAs to royal jelly elicited significant changes in queen larval mRNA expression and morphological characters of the emerging adult queen bee. We propose that miRNAs in the nurse bee secretions constitute an additional element in the regulatory control of caste determination in the honey bee.
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Laboratory and National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China ; Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiangqian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China ; College of Bee Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Songkun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Laboratory and National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Geir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Skogerboe
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shuanjin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wenfeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhiguo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Laboratory and National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China ; Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ruifeng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Laboratory and National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China ; Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shenglu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia ; College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China ; Bioinformatics Laboratory and National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shaowu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Laboratory and National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Runsheng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007814:Larva / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000099219:Royal Jelly
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D035683:MicroRNAs; D000099219:Royal Jelly