Gene expression profiles in the brain predict behavior in individual honey bees

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Genomics
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• Adult honey bees undergo a natural age-related transition from internal hive duties to external foraging.
• Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying behavioral changes in aging animals is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the genomic changes in the adult honey bee brain associated with the transition to foraging behavior.
• To determine if observed gene expression changes are primarily driven by age or by behavior.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a highly replicated experimental design with 72 microarrays to analyze messenger RNA (mRNA) abundance in honey bee brains.
• Employed experimental manipulations to decouple the effects of age and behavior on gene expression.
• Developed predictive models based on individual brain mRNA profiles to assess behavioral association.

Main Results:

• Significant changes in mRNA abundance were observed in 39% of approximately 5500 genes tested during the age-related behavioral transition.
• Experimental manipulations indicated that mRNA changes were predominantly associated with foraging behavior rather than chronological age.
• Brain mRNA profiles accurately predicted the behavior of 57 out of 60 individual bees.

Conclusions:

• The adult honey bee brain exhibits extensive genomic plasticity, with significant mRNA alterations linked to behavioral transitions.
• Behavior, specifically foraging, is a primary driver of these observed gene expression changes in the aging brain.
• A robust association exists between individual brain gene expression profiles and naturally occurring behavioral plasticity in honey bees.