Age pigment dynamics in worker-honeybees ( Apis Mellifera )
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Growing old is often related to a decline in physiological function, performance, survival or\nreproduction.(Kirkwood 2002) But studies among animals have showed that an increased\nchronological age doesn’t automatically leads to these physical changes.(Rueppell, Christine et\nal. 2007) Honeybees (Apis mellifera) has showed a remarkable plasticity of aging with queens\nhaving an average lifespan of 1–2 years, while workers have an average lifespan of 140 days in\nthe winter and 15–38 days in the summer(Munch and Amdam 2010).\nRegarded as a marker of cellular aging, lipofuscin, a fluorescent non-degradable material, will be\nexpected to accumulate in the cells of aging animals(Gray and Woulfe 2005; Double, Dedov et\nal. 2008).\nBy obtaning bees of the same age, and manipulating them into different social roles in the hive,\nthis study could observe how the accumulation of lipofuscin can be a process controlled by other\nfactors then just increased chronological age. Age-matched bees from with different social roles\nin the hive were sampled, and using a Leica SP5 Confocal laser scanning microscope, it was\npossible to create images that enabled the quantification of lipofuscin within the tissue samples\nfrom the bees.\nThe results showed a rapid accumulation pattern of lipofuscin among bees that had been engaged\nin foraging activities for more than 13 days, with the bees that was engaged in nursing activities\nshowing no such accumulation. This illustrates the strong effect of these social factors among\nhoney bees, and with studies on functional senescence that show significant decline patterns for\nolder forager groups after about 2 weeks of foraging(Behrends, Scheiner et al. 2007; Williams,\nRoberts et al. 2008), this study suggests that the accumulation of lipofuscin is more related to the\nonset of senescence, then just being a harmless wear-and-tear product purely related to the\nchronologically age of an animal.
Author: Lars E. Heidem
Language: English
Subfield: Aging
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2340706020