ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2011
IRS and TOR nutrient-signaling pathways act via juvenile hormone to influence honey bee caste fate.
Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers.
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Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 211 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diet Quality Shapes Metabolic and Immune Transcriptional Responses of Honey Bees Under Acute Heat Stress.Insects · 2026Article
- From nurse bee to queen egg: RNA-seq analysis of Apis mellifera eggs shows dietary protein-dependent gene regulation.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Convergent evolution of a conserved molecular network underlies parenting and sociality.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Susceptibility to the Neonicotinoid Pesticide Imidacloprid Is Linked to Life History Regulation in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera L.).Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Evolutionary Transitions in Social Behavior are Associated With Convergent and Partially Reversible Expansions of Transcription Factor Binding Sites.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
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- Epigenetic Mechanisms inCurrent issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
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- Uncovering the function of insulin receptor substrate in termites' immunity through active immunization.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2024Article
- The diverse roles of insulin signaling in insect behavior.Frontiers in insect science · 2024Review
- Identifying a developmental transition in honey bees using gene expression data.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Comparison of Protein and Carbohydrate Consumption and Processing in Emerging Workers, Gynes and Males of the WaspInsects · 2023Article
- Phenotypic dimorphism between honeybee queen and worker is regulated by complicated epigenetic modifications.iScience · 2023Article
- H3K4me1 Modification Functions in Caste Differentiation in Honey Bees.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- A key gene for the climatic adaptation of Apis cerana populations in China according to selective sweep analysis.BMC genomics · 2023Article
- Epigenetics Mechanisms of Honeybees: Secrets of Royal Jelly.Epigenetics insights · 2023Review
- Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of honeybee brains identifies vitellogenin as caste differentiation-related factor.iScience · 2022Article
- The Insulin Receptor: An Important Target for the Development of Novel Medicines and Pesticides.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Extent and complexity of RNA processing in honey bee queen and worker caste development.iScience · 2022Article
- Antibiotics Alter the Expression of Genes Related to Behavioral Development in Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae).Journal of insect science (Online) · 2022Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Regardless of genetic makeup, a female honey bee becomes a queen or worker depending on the food she receives as a larva. For decades, it has been known that nutrition and juvenile hormone (JH) signaling determine the caste fate of the individual bee. However, it is still largely unclear how these factors are connected. To address this question, we suppressed nutrient sensing by RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated gene knockdown of IRS (insulin receptor substrate) and TOR (target of rapamycin) in larvae reared on queen diet. The treatments affected several layers of organismal organization that could play a role in the response to differential nutrition between castes. These include transcript profiles, proteomic patterns, lipid levels, DNA methylation response and morphological features. Most importantly, gene knockdown abolished a JH peak that signals queen development and resulted in a worker phenotype. Application of JH rescued the queen phenotype in either knockdown, which demonstrates that the larval response to JH remains intact and can drive normal developmental plasticity even when IRS or TOR transcript levels are reduced. We discuss our results in the context of other recent findings on honey bee caste and development and propose that IRS is an alternative substrate for the Egfr (epidermal growth factor receptor) in honey bees. Overall, our study describes how the interplay of nutritional and hormonal signals affects many levels of organismal organization to build different phenotypes from identical genotypes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.