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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Mushtaq Al-Esawy, Jennifer Chennells, Giorgia Perri
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2021. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.Essential macronutrients are critical to the fitness and survival of animals. Many studies have shown that animals regulate the amount of protein and carbohydrate they eat for optimal performance. Regulation of dietary fat is important but less often studied. Honeybees collect and consume floral pollen to obtain protein and fat but how they achieve the optimal balance of these two macronutrients is presently unknown. Here, using chemically defined diets composed of essential amino acids and lipids (lecithin), we show that adult worker honeybees actively regulate their intake of lipids around optimal values relative to the amount of protein in their diet. We found that broodless, nurse-age worker honeybees consume foods to achieve a ratio between 1:2 and 1:3 for essential amino acids to lipid or ∼1.25:1 protein to fat. Bees fed diets relatively high in fat gained abdominal fat and had enlarged hypopharyngeal glands. In most cases, eating diets high in fat did not result in increased mortality. Importantly, we also discovered that the total quantity of food the bees ate increased when they were given a choice of two diets relatively high in fat, implying that dietary fat influences bee nutritional state in a way that, in turn, influences behaviour. We speculate that dietary fat plays a critical role in maintaining workers in the nurse-like behavioural state independently of the influence of queen pheromone.
Author(s): Stabler D, Al-Esawy M, Chennells JA, Perri G, Robinson A, Wright GA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Experimental Biology
Year: 2021
Volume: 224
Issue: 3
Online publication date: 08/02/2021
Acceptance date: 02/12/2020
Date deposited: 26/07/2021
ISSN (print): 0022-0949
ISSN (electronic): 1477-9145
Publisher: Company of Biologists Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.230615
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.230615
PubMed id: 33443043
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