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Honey bee genome holds clues to social behavior
James
E. Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor
217-244-1073; kloeppel@uiuc.edu
10/23/06
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —
By studying the humble honey bee, researchers at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign have come a step closer to understanding the molecular
basis of social behavior in humans.
“The honeybee (Apis mellifera) has been called a model system
for social behavior,” said Saurabh (pronounced SAW-rub) Sinha,
a professor of computer science and an affiliate of the university’s Institute
for Genomic Biology. Using that model system, Sinha led a team that
searched the honey bee genome for clues for social cues – a form
of bee pressure that can cause bees to change jobs in response to needs
of the hive.
“We want to learn how the honey bee society influences behavior
in individual honey bees,” said Sinha, who is lead author of a
paper that will be posted online this week ahead of regular publication
by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “By studying
the social regulation of gene expression, we hope to extrapolate the
biology to humans.”
Adult worker bees perform a number of tasks in the hive when they are
young, such as caring for eggs and larvae, and then shift to foraging
for nectar and pollen as they age. However, if the hive has a shortage
of foragers, some of the young nurse bees will switch jobs and become
foragers.
The job transition, whether triggered by age or social cues, involves
changes in thousands of genes in the honey bee brain; some genes turn
on, while others turn off.
Genes are switched on and off by short strings of DNA that lie close
to the gene. The strings serve as binding sites for particular molecules,
called transcription factors. For example, when the correct transcription
factor latches into the binding site, the gene may be switched on. If
the transcription factor breaks away from the binding site, the gene
is switched off.
To search for genes that might play a role in social behavior, Sinha
and his colleagues used the newly sequenced honey bee genome to scan
the binding sites of transcription factors known to function in the
development of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) from a single cell
to an adult.
A computer algorithm written by the researchers scanned nearly 3,000
genes. Statistical techniques were then used to investigate whether
particular transcription factors correlated with genes that were differentially
expressed (turned on or off) between nurse bees and foragers.
“We found five different transcription factors that showed a statistically
significant correlation with socially regulated genes,” Sinha
said. “It appears that genes involved in nervous-system development
in fruit flies are re-used by nature for behavioral functions in adult
honey bees.”
Their findings, Sinha said, suggest that honey bees will be useful in
elucidating the mechanisms by which social factors regulate gene expression
in brains, including those of humans.
With Sinha, co-authors are computer science professor Chengxiang Zhai,
graduate student Xu Ling, and entomology professors Charles Whitfield and Gene Robinson. The work was funded
by the University of Illinois and the National Science Foundation.
Editor’s note: To reach Saurabh Sinha, call 217-333-3233; e-mail: sinhas@uiuc.edu.
