| Title: | Regulation of dietary intake of protein and lipid by nurse-age adult worker honeybees |
| Author(s): | Stabler D; Al-Esawy M; Chennells JA; Perri G; Robinson A; Wright GA; |
| Address: | "Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK. Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK. Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kufa, PO Box 21, Najaf, Iraq. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK geraldine.wright@zoo.ox.ac.uk" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1477-9145 (Electronic) 0022-0949 (Print) 0022-0949 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Essential macronutrients are critical to the fitness and survival of animals. Many studies have shown that animals regulate the amount of protein and carbohydrate they eat for optimal performance. Regulation of dietary fat is important but less often studied. Honeybees collect and consume floral pollen to obtain protein and fat but how they achieve the optimal balance of these two macronutrients is presently unknown. Here, using chemically defined diets composed of essential amino acids and lipids (lecithin), we show that adult worker honeybees actively regulate their intake of lipids around optimal values relative to the amount of protein in their diet. We found that broodless, nurse-age worker honeybees consume foods to achieve a ratio between 1:2 and 1:3 for essential amino acids to lipid or approximately 1.25:1 protein to fat. Bees fed diets relatively high in fat gained abdominal fat and had enlarged hypopharyngeal glands. In most cases, eating diets high in fat did not result in increased mortality. Importantly, we also discovered that the total quantity of food the bees ate increased when they were given a choice of two diets relatively high in fat, implying that dietary fat influences bee nutritional state in a way that, in turn, influences behaviour. We speculate that dietary fat plays a critical role in maintaining workers in the nurse-like behavioural state independently of the influence of queen pheromone" |
| Keywords: | "*Amino Acids, Essential Animals Bees *Diet/veterinary Dietary Fats Eating Lipids Pollen Bee Essential amino acids Geometric framework Lipid Nutrient regulation Protein;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineStabler, Daniel Al-Esawy, Mushtaq Chennells, Jennifer A Perri, Giorgia Robinson, Alexandria Wright, Geraldine A eng BB/P007449/1/BB_/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2021/01/15 J Exp Biol. 2021 Feb 8; 224(Pt 3):jeb230615. doi: 10.1242/jeb.230615" |
