New components of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) queen retinue pheromone

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 100; no. 8; pp. 4486 - 4491
• Main Authors: Keeling, C.I, Slessor, K.N, Higo, H.A, Winston, M.L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 15-04-2003; National Acad Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Animals; Apis mellifera; Bees; Bees - chemistry; Bees - physiology; Bioassay; bioassays; Biochemistry; Biological Sciences; chemical composition; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Female; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Hexanes; Honey bee colonies; Honey bees; Insect colonies; Insect Hormones - chemistry; Insect Hormones - isolation & purification; Insect Hormones - physiology; Male; Pheromones; Pheromones - chemistry; Pheromones - isolation & purification; Pheromones - physiology; Queen honey bees; Queen insects; queen mandibular pheromone; queen pheromones; Queens; Social Behavior; Social insects; worker honey bees
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0836984100

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.