Location
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Student Union Ball Room
Start Date
6-8-2009 9:30 AM
End Date
6-8-2009 12:00 PM
Description
The accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals within tissues creates oxidative stress, causing damage and eventual aging in an organism. Intense activity can increase the level of oxidative stress that occurs within an organism. In honey bees, this activity occurs during foraging flights. To measure levels of oxidative stress resulting from low and high foraging activity, we set up three colonies: a colony with a pollen trap to cause increased foraging, a normal colony (control), and a colony with an artificial waterfall to limit foraging. We counted flights of marked foragers at each colony for 5 to 6 hours per day. As predicted, more pollen foraging flights occurred in the pollen trap colony. There was a steady rate of foraging activity in the normal colony, and low rates of foraging in the waterfall colony. Foragers tagged for age and with matching foraging rate data from each colony were collected in liquid nitrogen and frozen at -80° C. Future studies will measure expression of genes involved in oxidative stress in the brains and flight muscles of these bees utilizing western blots (to measure protein expression) and quantitative real-time PCR (to measure RNA expression).
Keywords
Aging; Free radicals; Honey bees; Reactive oxygen species (ROS); Oxidative stress; Tissue damage
Disciplines
Life Sciences
Language
English
Manipulation of foraging rate in honey bees in a natural setting
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Student Union Ball Room
The accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals within tissues creates oxidative stress, causing damage and eventual aging in an organism. Intense activity can increase the level of oxidative stress that occurs within an organism. In honey bees, this activity occurs during foraging flights. To measure levels of oxidative stress resulting from low and high foraging activity, we set up three colonies: a colony with a pollen trap to cause increased foraging, a normal colony (control), and a colony with an artificial waterfall to limit foraging. We counted flights of marked foragers at each colony for 5 to 6 hours per day. As predicted, more pollen foraging flights occurred in the pollen trap colony. There was a steady rate of foraging activity in the normal colony, and low rates of foraging in the waterfall colony. Foragers tagged for age and with matching foraging rate data from each colony were collected in liquid nitrogen and frozen at -80° C. Future studies will measure expression of genes involved in oxidative stress in the brains and flight muscles of these bees utilizing western blots (to measure protein expression) and quantitative real-time PCR (to measure RNA expression).
Comments
Abstract & poster