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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Title:		New components of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) queen retinue pheromone
Author(s):		Keeling CI; Slessor KN; Higo HA; Winston ML;
Address:		"Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6. ckeeling@mac.com"
Journal Title:		Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Year:		2003
Volume:		20030403
Issue:		8
Page Number:		4486 - 4491
DOI:		10.1073/pnas.0836984100
ISSN/ISBN:		0027-8424 (Print) 1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Linking)
Abstract:		"The honey bee queen produces pheromones that function in both releaser and primer roles such as attracting a retinue of workers around her, attracting drones on mating flights, preventing workers from reproducing at the individual (worker egg-laying) and colony (swarming) level, and regulating several other aspects of colony functioning. The queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), consisting of five synergistic components, is the only pheromone chemically identified in the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) queen, but this pheromone does not fully duplicate the pheromonal activity of a full queen extract. To identify the remaining unknown compounds for retinue attraction, honey bee colonies were selectively bred to have low response to synthetic QMP and high response to a queen extract in a laboratory retinue bioassay. Workers from these colonies were then used in the bioassay to guide the isolation and identification of the remaining active components. Four new compounds were identified from several glandular sources that account for the majority of the difference in retinue attraction between synthetic QMP and queen extract: methyl (Z)-octadec-9-enoate (methyl oleate), (E)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-ol (coniferyl alcohol), hexadecan-1-ol, and (Z9,Z12,Z15)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic acid (linolenic acid). These compounds were inactive alone or in combination, and they only elicited attraction in the presence of QMP. There was still unidentified activity remaining in the queen extract. The queen therefore produces a synergistic, multiglandular pheromone blend of at least nine compounds for retinue attraction, the most complex pheromone blend known for inducing a single behavior in any organism"
Keywords:		"Animals Bees/*chemistry/physiology Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid Female Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Insect Hormones/*chemistry/isolation & purification/physiology Male Pheromones/*chemistry/isolation & purification/physiology Social Behavi;"
Notes:		"MedlineKeeling, Christopher I Slessor, Keith N Higo, Heather A Winston, Mark L eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2003/04/05 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Apr 15; 100(8):4486-91. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0836984100. Epub 2003 Apr 3"