| Title: | Nutritional balance of essential amino acids and carbohydrates of the adult worker honeybee depends on age |
| Author(s): | Paoli PP; Donley D; Stabler D; Saseendranath A; Nicolson SW; Simpson SJ; Wright GA; |
| Address: | "Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00726-014-1706-2 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1438-2199 (Electronic) 0939-4451 (Print) 0939-4451 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Dietary sources of essential amino acids (EAAs) are used for growth, somatic maintenance and reproduction. Eusocial insect workers such as honeybees are sterile, and unlike other animals, their nutritional needs should be largely dictated by somatic demands that arise from their role within the colony. Here, we investigated the extent to which the dietary requirements of adult worker honeybees for EAAs and carbohydrates are affected by behavioural caste using the Geometric Framework for nutrition. The nutritional optimum, or intake target (IT), was determined by confining cohorts of 20 young bees or foragers to liquid diets composed of specific proportions of EAAs and sucrose. The IT of young, queenless bees shifted from a proportion of EAAs-to-carbohydrates (EAA:C) of 1:50 towards 1:75 over a 2-week period, accompanied by a reduced lifespan on diets high in EAAs. Foragers required a diet high in carbohydrates (1:250) and also had low survival on diets high in EAA. Workers exposed to queen mandibular pheromone lived longer on diets high in EAA, even when those diets contained 5x their dietary requirements. Our data show that worker honeybees prioritize their intake of carbohydrates over dietary EAAs, even when overeating EAAs to obtain sufficient carbohydrates results in a shorter lifespan. Thus, our data demonstrate that even when young bees are not nursing brood and foragers are not flying, their nutritional needs shift towards a diet largely composed of carbohydrates when they make the transition from within-hive duties to foraging" |
| Keywords: | "Aging Amino Acids, Essential/*administration & dosage/metabolism *Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena/drug effects Animals Bees Behavior, Animal/physiology Dietary Carbohydrates/*administration & dosage Female Nutritional Requirements Reproduction/;neuroscience;" |
| Notes: | "MedlinePaoli, Pier P Donley, Dion Stabler, Daniel Saseendranath, Anumodh Nicolson, Susan W Simpson, Stephen J Wright, Geraldine A eng WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom BB/F011229/1/BB_/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Austria 2014/03/14 Amino Acids. 2014 Jun; 46(6):1449-58. doi: 10.1007/s00726-014-1706-2. Epub 2014 Mar 13" |
