TY  - JOUR
A1  - Scheiner, Ricarda
A1  - Kulikovskaja, Leonora
A1  - Thamm, Markus
T1  - The honey bee tyramine receptor AmTYR1 and division of foraging labour
JF  - The journal of experimental biology
N2  - Honey bees display a fascinating division of labour among foragers. While some bees solely collect pollen, others only collect nectar. It is assumed that individual differences in sensory response thresholds are at the basis of this division of labour. Biogenic amines and their receptors are important candidates for regulating the division of labour, because they can modulate sensory response thresholds. Here, we investigated the role of the honey bee tyramine receptor AmTYR1 in regulating the division of foraging labour. We report differential splicing of the Amtyr1 gene and show differential gene expression of one isoform in the suboesophageal ganglion of pollen and nectar foragers. This ganglion mediates gustatory inputs. These findings imply a role for the honey bee tyramine receptor in regulating the division of foraging labour, possibly through the suboesophageal ganglion.
KW  - Splicing
KW  - Tyramine
KW  - Gene expression
KW  - Pollen
KW  - Nectar
KW  - Biogenic amines
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.098475
SN  - 0022-0949
SN  - 1477-9145
VL  - 217
IS  - 8
SP  - 1215
EP  - 1217
PB  - Company of Biologists Limited
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Scheiner, Ricarda
A1  - Reim, Tina
A1  - Sovik, Eirik
A1  - Entler, Brian V.
A1  - Barron, Andrew B.
A1  - Thamm, Markus
T1  - Learning, gustatory responsiveness and tyramine differences across nurse and forager honeybees
JF  - The journal of experimental biology
N2  - Honeybees are well known for their complex division of labor. Each bee sequentially performs a series of social tasks during its life. The changes in social task performance are linked to gross differences in behavior and physiology. We tested whether honeybees performing different social tasks (nursing versus foraging) would differ in their gustatory responsiveness and associative learning behavior in addition to their daily tasks in the colony. Further, we investigated the role of the biogenic amine tyramine and its receptors in the behavior of nurse bees and foragers. Tyramine is an important insect neurotransmitter, which has long been neglected in behavioral studies as it was believed to only act as the metabolic precursor of the better-known amine octopamine. With the increasing number of characterized tyramine receptors in diverse insects, we need to understand the functions of tyramine on its own account. Our findings suggest an important role for tyramine and its two receptors in regulating honeybee gustatory responsiveness, social organization and learning behavior. Foragers, which were more responsive to gustatory stimuli than nurse bees and performed better in appetitive learning, also differed from nurse bees in their tyramine brain titers and in the mRNA expression of a tyramine receptor in the brain. Pharmacological activation of tyramine receptors increased gustatory responsiveness of nurse bees and foragers and improved appetitive learning in nurse bees. These data suggest that a large part of the behavioral differences between honeybees may be directly linked to tyramine signaling in the brain.
KW  - Biogenic amines
KW  - Nurse bee
KW  - Apis mellifera
KW  - PER
KW  - Proboscis extension response
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.152496
SN  - 0022-0949
SN  - 1477-9145
VL  - 220
SP  - 1443
EP  - 1450
PB  - Company of Biologists Limited
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -