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First published online September 19, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 3828-3836 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02450

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Lifetime performance in foraging honeybees: behaviour and physiology

M.-P. Schippers¹, R. Dukas², R. W. Smith¹, J. Wang³, K. Smolen^1,4 and G. B. McClelland^1,*

¹ Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
² Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
³ Department of Regional Centre for Mass Spectrometry, Department of Chemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada
⁴ University of Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: grantm{at}mcmaster.ca)

Accepted 20 July 2006

Honeybees, Apis mellifera, gradually increase their rate of forage uptake as they gain foraging experience. This increase in foraging performance has been proposed to occur as a result of learning; however, factors affecting flight ability such as changes in physiological components of flight metabolism could also contribute to this pattern.

Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of physiological changes to the increase in honeybee foraging performance. We investigated aspects of honeybee flight muscle biochemistry throughout the adult life, from non-foraging hive bees, through young and mature foragers, to old foragers near the end of their lifespan. Two-dimensional gel proteomic analysis on honeybee thorax muscle revealed an increase in several proteins from hive bees to mature foragers including troponin T 10a, aldolase and superoxide dismutase. By contrast, the activities (V_max) of enzymes involved in aerobic performance, phosphofructokinase, hexokinase, pyruvate kinase and cytochrome c oxidase, did not increase in the flight muscles of hive bees, young foragers, mature foragers and old foragers. However, citrate synthase activity was found to increase with foraging experience. Hence, our results suggest plasticity in both structural and metabolic components of flight muscles with foraging experience.

Key words: insect, muscle, flight, performance, honeybee, Apis mellifera, troponin T, superoxide dismutase, metabolic enzyme, foraging