Abstract
Background:Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide a principal example of diphenic development. Excess feeding of female larvae results in queens (large reproductives). Moderate diet yields workers (small helpers). The signaling pathway that links provisioning to female developmental fate is not understood, yet we reasoned that it could include TOR (target of rapamycin), a nutrient- and energy-sensing kinase that controls organismal growth.Methodology/Principal Findings:Here, the role of Apis mellifera TOR (amTOR) in caste determination is examined by rapamycin/FK506 pharmacology and RNA interference (RNAi) gene knockdown. We show that in queen-destined larvae, the TOR inhibitor rapamycin induces the development of worker characters that are blocked by the antagonist FK506. Further, queen fate is associated with elevated activity of the Apis mellifera TOR encoding gene, amTOR, and amTOR gene knockdown blocks queen fate and results in individuals with worker morphology.Conclusions/Significance:A much-studied insect dimorphism, thereby, can be governed by the TOR pathway. Our results present the first evidence for a role of TOR in diphenic development, and suggest that adoption of this ancestral nutrient-sensing cascade is one evolutionary pathway for morphological caste differentiation in social insects.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e509 |
| Journal | PLoS One |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2007 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Medicine(all)
Cite this
The Making of a Queen : TOR Pathway Is a Key Player in Diphenic Caste Development. / Patel, Avani; Fondrk, M. Kim; Kaftanoglu, Osman; Emore, Christine; Hunt, Greg; Frederick, Katy; Amdam, Gro.
In: PLoS One, Vol. 2, No. 6, e509, 2007.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Making of a Queen
T2 - TOR Pathway Is a Key Player in Diphenic Caste Development
AU - Patel, Avani
AU - Fondrk, M. Kim
AU - Kaftanoglu, Osman
AU - Emore, Christine
AU - Hunt, Greg
AU - Frederick, Katy
AU - Amdam, Gro
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - Background:Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide a principal example of diphenic development. Excess feeding of female larvae results in queens (large reproductives). Moderate diet yields workers (small helpers). The signaling pathway that links provisioning to female developmental fate is not understood, yet we reasoned that it could include TOR (target of rapamycin), a nutrient- and energy-sensing kinase that controls organismal growth.Methodology/Principal Findings:Here, the role of Apis mellifera TOR (amTOR) in caste determination is examined by rapamycin/FK506 pharmacology and RNA interference (RNAi) gene knockdown. We show that in queen-destined larvae, the TOR inhibitor rapamycin induces the development of worker characters that are blocked by the antagonist FK506. Further, queen fate is associated with elevated activity of the Apis mellifera TOR encoding gene, amTOR, and amTOR gene knockdown blocks queen fate and results in individuals with worker morphology.Conclusions/Significance:A much-studied insect dimorphism, thereby, can be governed by the TOR pathway. Our results present the first evidence for a role of TOR in diphenic development, and suggest that adoption of this ancestral nutrient-sensing cascade is one evolutionary pathway for morphological caste differentiation in social insects.
AB - Background:Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide a principal example of diphenic development. Excess feeding of female larvae results in queens (large reproductives). Moderate diet yields workers (small helpers). The signaling pathway that links provisioning to female developmental fate is not understood, yet we reasoned that it could include TOR (target of rapamycin), a nutrient- and energy-sensing kinase that controls organismal growth.Methodology/Principal Findings:Here, the role of Apis mellifera TOR (amTOR) in caste determination is examined by rapamycin/FK506 pharmacology and RNA interference (RNAi) gene knockdown. We show that in queen-destined larvae, the TOR inhibitor rapamycin induces the development of worker characters that are blocked by the antagonist FK506. Further, queen fate is associated with elevated activity of the Apis mellifera TOR encoding gene, amTOR, and amTOR gene knockdown blocks queen fate and results in individuals with worker morphology.Conclusions/Significance:A much-studied insect dimorphism, thereby, can be governed by the TOR pathway. Our results present the first evidence for a role of TOR in diphenic development, and suggest that adoption of this ancestral nutrient-sensing cascade is one evolutionary pathway for morphological caste differentiation in social insects.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34548539025&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0000509
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0000509
M3 - Article
C2 - 17551589
AN - SCOPUS:34548539025
VL - 2
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 6
M1 - e509
ER -