Journal of Morphological Sciences
http://www.jms.periodikos.com.br/article/587cb4637f8c9d0d058b4644
Journal of Morphological Sciences
Original Article

EFFECT OF TOPICAL APPLICATION OF JUVENILE HORMONE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF CELL DEATH IN THE LARVAE OF HONEYBEE (Apis mellifera)

William Fernando Antonialli Junior; Carminda da Cruz-Landim

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Abstract

Workers and queens of Apis mellifera present marked dimorphism evidenced by the great development of queen ovaries and atrophy of worker ones as a result of differential diets given by the nurse workers to the developing larvae. The present paper reports the results of an investigation on how the administration of juvenile hormone (JH) to worker larvae affects the cell death in their ovaries. Larvae from 2nd and 3rd instars received topical application of JH III diluted in hexane in the concentration of 1μg/μL. The ovaries of the treated and non-treated larvae (control) were collected in the 3rd, 4th and 5th instars and prepared for cell death observation by staining with Hoechst and Propidium Iodide and by labeling with TUNEL reaction. The results showed that the ovaries of the control larvae present higher rates of cell death, in all ages, than those found on the JH-treated larvae ovaries and that the effect of the aforementioned treatment was independent of the larvae stage to which it was applied being thus the same for the 2nd and 3rd instars. The results suggest that the hormone application partially inhibited the cell death in the workers ovaries thus affecting the key characteristic essential in the differentiation of larvae fated to be workers and queens. The exogenous administration of JH to workers larvae reproduces the diet effect responsible for castes differentiation in Apis mellifera indicating a close relationship between the quality of larval nourishment and juvenile hormone production, which ultimately evidences the role of the diet in the expression of genes linked to JH synthesis.

Keywords

Apis mellifera, cell death, female castes, juvenile hormone, ovary
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