Location
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Student Union Ball Room
Start Date
6-8-2008 9:00 AM
End Date
6-8-2008 12:00 PM
Description
Honeybees undergo a process of adult behavioral development, spending their first 2-3 weeks working inside the constant environment of the hive. At about 3 weeks of age workers leave the hive as foragers who gather pollen and nectar. Previous research found that bees show an enormous decline in immunity as a result of their transition from regular hive jobs to more difficult foraging activities. Foragers can be forced to go back into hive-tasks, thus becoming “reverted nurses” which may also allow a reversal of immunosenescence. Understanding how this happens could prove to be useful because if there is flexibility in honeybee immunity it could lead us to a better understanding of the human immune response since the honeybee has a very similar genome to that of humans. I plan to use protein and gene expression analysis, along with other measurements to understand how forager bees change back into nurses and how this effects their immune response and their process of senescence and aging.
Keywords
Apis mellifera; Genes; Honeybees; Immunity; Protein expressions; Reverted nurse bees; Work tasks
Disciplines
Entomology | Genetics
Language
English
Investigation of gene and protein expression based on Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) aging, flight experience, and behavior
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Student Union Ball Room
Honeybees undergo a process of adult behavioral development, spending their first 2-3 weeks working inside the constant environment of the hive. At about 3 weeks of age workers leave the hive as foragers who gather pollen and nectar. Previous research found that bees show an enormous decline in immunity as a result of their transition from regular hive jobs to more difficult foraging activities. Foragers can be forced to go back into hive-tasks, thus becoming “reverted nurses” which may also allow a reversal of immunosenescence. Understanding how this happens could prove to be useful because if there is flexibility in honeybee immunity it could lead us to a better understanding of the human immune response since the honeybee has a very similar genome to that of humans. I plan to use protein and gene expression analysis, along with other measurements to understand how forager bees change back into nurses and how this effects their immune response and their process of senescence and aging.
Comments
Abstract & poster