An investigation on the proteome of drone egg development of native Italian bee (Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola,1806) was carried out in order to prove up the characteristics in protein expression and regulation at egg stage and open out the molecular mechanism of the development. The experiment was carried out by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The results showed that there were 200, 242 and 233 proteins in a wide rang of molecular weight (12.42-169.60 kDa) and in a relatively narrow scope of pI (4.50-9.00) detected on day 1, day 2 and day 3, respectively, during the developmental process of the drone egg. Meanwhile, 164 protein spots were resolved at all the images (i.e., the protein was consistently expressed) along with the egg development, among which 7 were significantly up-expressed (P < 0.05) and 4 were significantly down-expressed (P < 0.05) while 79 had no significant differences (P > 0.05). In addition, the specific proteins expressing proteins on day 1, day 2 and day 3 were 11, 18 and 18, respectively. Besides, 17 proteins expressed both on day 1 and day 2 but silenced on day 3, and 43 proteins expressed both on day 2 and day 3 but silenced on day 1, while only 8 proteins expressed both on day 1 and day 3 but silenced on day 2. The results indicate that 2-d-old eggs are at the most active expressional stage in the development of drone egg. The protein expressing at all images suggests that it should be indispensable for drone egg development, but their expression pattern is different. The proteins expressing at a specific age of egg suggest that specific proteins are needed in different developmental stages to regulate. And there are more house-keeping proteins in the developmental process of the drone egg than that of worker egg, and it will provide more targets for gene improvement.
FANG Yu and LI Jian-ke Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Beijing 100093, P.R.China
This study is to compare the protein composition of the high royal jelly producing bee (A. m. ligustica) with that of Carniolian bee (A. m. carnica) during their worker larval developmental stage. The experiment was carried out by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The results showed that significant higher numbers of total proteins (283) were detected in larvae of high royal jelly producing bees (Jelly bee) than those of Carniolian bees (152) on 2-d-old larvae. Among them, 110 proteins were presented on both strains of bee larvae, whereas 173 proteins were specific to larvae of Jelly bees, and 42 proteins were exclusive to Carniolian larvae. However, on the 4th d, a significant higher number of total proteins (290) were detected in larvae of Jelly bees than those of Carniolian bees (240), 163 proteins resolved to both bee larvae, and 127 proteins were specific to Jelly bees and 77 proteins to Carniolian bees. Until the 6th d, also a significant higher number of total proteins (236) were detected in larvae of Jelly bees than those of Carniolian bees (180), 132 proteins were constantly expressed in two bee larvae, whereas 104 and 48 proteins are unique to Jelly bee and Carniolian bee larvae, respectively. We tentatively concluded that the metabolic rate and gene expression of Jelly bees larvae is higher than those of Carniolian bees based proteins detected as total proteins and proteins specific to each stage of two strains of bee larvae. Proteins constantly expressed on 3 stages of larval development with some significant differences between two bee strains, and proteins unique to each stage expressed differences in term of quality and quantity, indicating that larval development needed house keeping and specific proteins to regulate its growth at different development phage, but the expression mold is different between two strains of larval development.
