The leucokinin pathway regulates honey bee sugar consumption via Piezo

Nectar serves as the primary carbohydrate source for honey bees, sustaining both individual and colony-wide energy demands. Although nectar from bee-pollinated flowers is rich in sucrose, a preferred sugar for honey bees, the neural mechanisms regulating sucrose intake remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrated that the leucokinin (LK) neuropeptide and its receptor (LKR) suppress sucrose consumption in worker bees of Apis cerana, as shown through LK supplementation and Lkr RNAi. Gene silencing results revealed that this signaling pathway is inhibited by Lkrial (Lkr Intronic Antisense LncRNA), a novel long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) transcribed antisense to the Lkr locus. Furthermore, by using quantitative PCR and RNAi, we showed that Lk/Lkr signaling cascade activates the mechanosensory ion channel Piezo, which acts downstream to suppresses sucrose intake. Collectively, our findings uncover a previously unrecognized regulatory circuit that is essential for the neural control of sucrose consumption and energy acquisition in A. cerana.