Fig. 3. UV opsin immunoreactivity on a western blot of crude protein extracted from retinas of four B. impatiens female workers with and without peptide treatment. (A) Lane 1, MagicMark protein standard (Invitrogen). Lane 2, anti-UV opsin antibody. The primary antibody concentration was 1:1000 (0.00453 nmol ml^–1) and the membrane was incubated at 4°C overnight. The specific opsin immunoreactive band with an approximate molecular mass of 41 kDa is indicated by an arrow. Two smaller bands, which might represent alternatively glycosylated states of the UV opsin protein and/or proteolytic breakdown products, are present at approximately 30 and 29 kDa (arrows). Lane 3, anti-UV opsin antibody + UV opsin peptide. The antibody (0.00453 nmol ml^–1) was mixed with 0.453 nmol ml^–1 peptide for 1 h before incubation with the membrane at 4°C overnight. (B) Same membranes as above except stained with Coomassie blue to visualize total protein present on blots.