ArticleGenetics and molecular biology
Epigenetic modifications and their relation to caste and sex determination and adult division of labor in the stingless bee Melipona scutellaris.
Article in Genetics and molecular biology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Distinct colony niches shape associated microbiotas in Neotropical stingless bees.Genetics and molecular biology · 2026Article
- Exploring ethylene-related genes in Cannabis sativa: implications for sexual plasticity.Plant reproduction · 2024Article
- Mixed Patterns of Intergenerational DNA Methylation Inheritance in Acropora.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Reproductive Potential Impacts Body Maintenance Parameters and Global DNA Methylation in Honeybee Workers (Insects · 2021Article
- 10-hydroxy-2E-decenoic acid (10HDA) does not promote caste differentiation in Melipona scutellaris stingless bees.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Epigenetic variation in animal populations: Sources, extent, phenotypic implications, and ecological and evolutionary relevance.Journal of biosciences · 2021Review
- Article
- Queen pheromone modulates the expression of epigenetic modifier genes in the brain of honeybee workers.Biology letters · 2020Article
- Epigenetic Molecular Mechanisms in Insects.Neotropical entomology · 2020Review
- The nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of Frieseomelitta varia - a highly eusocial stingless bee (Meliponini) with a permanently sterile worker caste.BMC genomics · 2020Article
- Genome-Wide Differential DNA Methylation in Reproductive, Morphological, and Visual System Differences Between Queen Bee and Worker Bee (Frontiers in genetics · 2020Article
- Impacts of Epigenetic Processes on the Health and Productivity of Livestock.Frontiers in genetics · 2020Review
- Social context influences the expression of DNA methyltransferase genes in the honeybee.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Epigenetics with special reference to the human X chromosome inactivation and the enigma ofJournal of genetics · 2018Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Stingless bees of the genus Melipona, have long been considered an enigmatic case among social insects for their mode of caste determination, where in addition to larval food type and quantity, the genotype also has a saying, as proposed over 50 years ago by Warwick E. Kerr. Several attempts have since tried to test his Mendelian two-loci/two-alleles segregation hypothesis, but only recently a single gene crucial for sex determination in bees was evidenced to be sex-specifically spliced and also caste-specifically expressed in a Melipona species. Since alternative splicing is frequently associated with epigenetic marks, and the epigenetic status plays a major role in setting the caste phenotype in the honey bee, we investigated here epigenetic chromatin modification in the stingless bee Melipona scutellaris. We used an ELISA-based methodology to quantify global methylation status and western blot assays to reveal histone modifications. The results evidenced DNA methylation/demethylation events in larvae and pupae, and significant differences in histone methylation and phosphorylation between newly emerged adult queens and workers. The epigenetic dynamics seen in this stingless bee species represent a new facet in the caste determination process in Melipona bees and suggest a possible mechanism that is likely to link a genotype component to the larval diet and adult social behavior of these bees.
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