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Behavioral plasticity in honey bees is associated with differences in brain microRNA transcriptome

  1. J. K. Greenberg1,
  2. J. Xia2,
  3. X. Zhou2,
  4. S. R. Thatcher3,
  5. X. Gu1,
  6. S. A. Ament4,5,
  7. T. C. Newman6,
  8. P. J. Green3,
  9. W. Zhang2,7,
  10. G. E. Robinson4,6,
  11. Y. Ben-Shahar1,*

Article first published online: 6 APR 2012

DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-183X.2012.00782.x

Issue

Genes, Brain and Behavior

Genes, Brain and Behavior

Volume 11, Issue 6, pages 660–670, August 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Greenberg, J. K., Xia, J., Zhou, X., Thatcher, S. R., Gu, X., Ament, S. A., Newman, T. C., Green, P. J., Zhang, W., Robinson, G. E. and Ben-Shahar, Y. (2012), Behavioral plasticity in honey bees is associated with differences in brain microRNA transcriptome. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 11: 660–670. doi: 10.1111/j.1601-183X.2012.00782.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Biology

  2. 2

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA

  3. 3

    Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

  4. 4

    The Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

  5. 5

    Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA, USA

  6. 6

    Department of Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

  7. 7

    Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

*Y. Ben-Shahar, Washington University, Biology, 1 Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1137, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. E-mail: benshahary@wustl.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 23 JUL 2012
  2. Article first published online: 6 APR 2012
  3. Accepted manuscript online: 12 MAR 2012 04:30PM EST
  4. Received 1 April 2011, revised 12 February 2012, 4 March 2012 and 6 March 2012, accepted for publication 7 March 2012

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Keywords:

  • Division of labor;
  • honey bee;
  • microRNA;
  • phylogenetics;
  • social behavior

Small, non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in many biological processes, including the development of the nervous system. However, the roles of miRNAs in natural behavioral and neuronal plasticity are not well understood. To help address this we characterized the microRNA transcriptome in the adult worker honey bee head and investigated whether changes in microRNA expression levels in the brain are associated with division of labor among honey bees, a well-established model for socially regulated behavior. We determined that several miRNAs were downregulated in bees that specialize on brood care (nurses) relative to foragers. Additional experiments showed that this downregulation is dependent upon social context; it only occurred when nurse bees were in colonies that also contained foragers. Analyses of conservation patterns of brain-expressed miRNAs across Hymenoptera suggest a role for certain miRNAs in the evolution of the Aculeata, which includes all the eusocial hymenopteran species. Our results support the intriguing hypothesis that miRNAs are important regulators of social behavior at both developmental and evolutionary time scales.

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