2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Identification and analysis of genes involved in the intrinsic behaviors of the social insect (the honey bee)
| Project/Area Number |
12480237
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Neuroscience in general
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
KUBO Takeo Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Professor, 大学院・理学系研究科, 教授 (10201469)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2001
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| Keywords | Honey bee / Social insect / Behavior / Caste / Neuron / Brain / Gene / cDNA |
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| Research Abstract |
The honey bee is a social insect and the workers can communicate with other workers by dance language that contains information both on the direction and distance of the food source. In the honey bee brain, the mushroom bodies which are important for sensory integration, learning and memory in the insect brain, are characteristically well-developed and the intrinsic neuron (Kenyon cells) that constitute the mushroom bodies are classified into two subspecies : the large and small type-Kenyon cells. We previously identified two genes expressed preferentially in the large and small type-Kenyon cells (the Mblk-1 and the Ks-1 gene), as candidate genes involved in the highly advanced behavior of the honey bees. In this study, we isolated and characterized cDNAs for the Mblk-1 aad the Ks-1 genes.
We found the Mblk-1 gene encodes a novel transcription factor and showed that this protein actually has transactivation activity. This is the first instance of a transcription factor expressed prefere
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ntially in the mushroom bodies of the insect brain and would be an important cue to understand the molecular basis of the insect brain function. The Mblk-1 homologue was also found in nematoda and mouse, suggesting that the function of Mblk-1 is conserved among various animals. On the contrary, the cDNA for the Ks-1 gene expressed preferentially in the small type-Kenyon cells encoded no significant ORF and the Ks-1 transcripts are located punctate in the nuclei of the small type-Kenyon cells. These results suggest that Ks-1 transcript functions as a non-translatable nuclear RNA to regulate the honey bee neuronal functions. This is the first instance of a neural cell type-preferential nuclear RNA and would be an important cue to analyze the function of a novel class RNA.
In addition, the Q7 and QM1 genes expressed preferentially in the brain of the queens and the Agg-1 and Agg-2 genes expressed preferentially in the brain of the aggressive bees have been identified in this study, as candidate genes to be involved in the highly advanced behavior of the honey bees. Less
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