@misc{ScheinerBaumannBlenau2006, author = {Scheiner, Ricarda and Baumann, Arnd and Blenau, Wolfgang}, title = {Aminergic control and modulation of honeybee behaviour}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-46106}, year = {2006}, abstract = {Biogenic amines are important messenger substances in the central nervous system and in peripheral organs of vertebrates and of invertebrates. The honeybee, Apis mellifera, is excellently suited to uncover the functions of biogenic amines in behaviour, because it has an extensive behavioural repertoire, with a number of biogenic amine receptors characterised in this insect. In the honeybee, the biogenic amines dopamine, octopamine, serotonin and tyramine modulate neuronal functions in various ways. Dopamine and serotonin are present in high concentrations in the bee brain, whereas octopamine and tyramine are less abundant. Octopamine is a key molecule for the control of honeybee behaviour. It generally has an arousing effect and leads to higher sensitivity for sensory inputs, better learning performance and increased foraging behaviour. Tyramine has been suggested to act antagonistically to octopamine, but only few experimental data are available for this amine. Dopamine and serotonin often have antagonistic or inhibitory effects as compared to octopamine. Biogenic amines bind to membrane receptors that primarily belong to the large gene-family of GTP-binding (G) protein coupled receptors. Receptor activation leads to transient changes in concentrations of intracellular second messengers such as cAMP, IP3 and/or Ca2+. Although several biogenic amine receptors from the honeybee have been cloned and characterised more recently, many genes still remain to be identified. The availability of the completely sequenced genome of Apis mellifera will contribute substantially to closing this gap. In this review, we will discuss the present knowledge on how biogenic amines and their receptor-mediated cellular responses modulate different behaviours of honeybees including learning processes and division of labour.}, language = {en} } @misc{BlenauScheinerPlueckhahnetal.2002, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Scheiner, Ricarda and Pl{\"u}ckhahn, Stephanie and Oney, Bahar and Erber, Joachim}, title = {Behavioural pharmacology of octopamine, tyramine and dopamine in honey bees}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-44308}, year = {2002}, abstract = {In the honey bee, responsiveness to sucrose correlates with many behavioural parameters such as age of first foraging, foraging role and learning. Sucrose responsiveness can be measured using the proboscis extension response (PER) by applying sucrose solutions of increasing concentrations to the antenna of a bee. We tested whether the biogenic amines octopamine, tyramine and dopamine, and the dopamine receptor agonist 2-amino-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene (6,7-ADTN) can modulate sucrose responsiveness. The compounds were either injected into the thorax or fed in sucrose solution to compare different methods of application. Injection and feeding of tyramine or octopamine significantly increased sucrose responsiveness. Dopamine decreased sucrose responsiveness when injected into the thorax. Feeding of dopamine had no effect. Injection of 6,7-ADTN into the thorax and feeding of 6,7-ADTN reduced sucrose responsiveness significantly. These data demonstrate that sucrose responsiveness in honey bees can be modulated by biogenic amines, which has far reaching consequences for other types of behaviour in this insect. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{ReimThammRolkeetal.2013, author = {Reim, Tina and Thamm, Markus and Rolke, Daniel and Blenau, Wolfgang and Scheiner, Ricarda}, title = {Suitability of three common reference genes for quantitative real-time PCR in honey bees}, series = {Apidologie : a quality journal in bee science}, volume = {44}, journal = {Apidologie : a quality journal in bee science}, number = {3}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Paris}, issn = {0044-8435}, doi = {10.1007/s13592-012-0184-3}, pages = {342 -- 350}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Honey bees are important model organisms for neurobiology, because they display a large array of behaviors. To link behavior with individual gene function, quantitative polymerase chain reaction is frequently used. Comparing gene expression of different individuals requires data normalization using adequate reference genes. These should ideally be expressed stably throughout lifetime. Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case. We studied how well three commonly used reference genes are suited for this purpose and measured gene expression in the brains of honey bees differing in age and social role. Although rpl32 is used most frequently, it only remains stable in expression between newly emerged bees, nurse-aged bees, and pollen foragers but shows a peak at the age of 12 days. The genes gapdh and ef1 alpha-f1, in contrast, are expressed stably in the brain throughout all age groups except newly emerged bees. According to stability software, gapdh was expressed most stably, followed by rpl32 and ef1 alpha-f1.}, language = {en} }