Abstract
Reproductive division of labor in advanced eusocial honey bees and stingless bees is based on the ability of totipotent female larvae to develop into either workers or queens. In nearly all species, caste is determined by larval nutrition. However, the mechanism that triggers queen development in Melipona bees is still unresolved. Several hypotheses have been proposed, ranging from the proximate (a genetic determination of caste development) to the ultimate (a model in which larvae have complete control over their own caste fate). Here, we showed that the addition of geraniol, the main compound in labial gland secretions of nurse workers, to the larval food significantly increases the number of larvae that develop into queens. Interestingly, the proportion of queens in treated brood exactly matched the value (25%) predicted by the two-locus, two-allele model of genetic queen determination, in which only females that are heterozygous at both loci are capable of developing into queens. We conclude that labial gland secretions, added to the food of some cells by nurse bees, trigger queen development, provided that the larvae are genetically predisposed towards this developmental pathway. In Melipona beecheii, geraniol acts as a primer pheromone representing the first caste determination substance identified to date.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Robert Hodgkison for linguistic help and Robert Paxton for his valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. The study was supported by DFG grant JA 1715/1 and by funds made available by the Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra y el Mar of the National University of Costa Rica trough an invitation of SJ as Visiting Professor.
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Jarau, S., van Veen, J.W., Twele, R. et al. Workers Make the Queens in Melipona Bees: Identification of Geraniol as a Caste Determining Compound from Labial Glands of Nurse Bees. J Chem Ecol 36, 565–569 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-010-9793-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-010-9793-3