Abstract
Honey bees are major pollinators of agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes. In recent years, honey bee colonies have exhibited high annual losses and commercial beekeepers frequently report poor queen quality and queen failure as the primary causes. Honey bee colonies are highly vulnerable to compromised queen fertility, as each hive is headed by one reproductive queen. Queens mate with multiple drones (male bees) during a single mating period early in life in which they obtain enough spermatozoa to fertilize their eggs for the rest of their reproductive life span. The process of mating initiates numerous behavioral, physiological, and molecular changes that shape the fertility of the queen and her influence on the colony. For example, receipt of drone semen can modulate queen ovary activation, pheromone production, and subsequent worker retinue behavior. In addition, seminal fluid is a major component of semen that is primarily derived from drone accessory glands. It also contains a complex mixture of proteins such as proteases, antioxidants, and antimicrobial proteins. Seminal fluid proteins are essential for inducing post-mating changes in other insects such as Drosophila and thus they may also impact honey bee queen fertility and health. However, the specific molecules in semen and seminal fluid that initiate post-mating changes in queens are still unidentified. Herein, we summarize the mating biology of honey bees, the changes queens undergo during and after copulation, and the role of drone semen and seminal fluid in post-mating changes in queens. We then review the effects of seminal fluid proteins in insect reproduction and potential roles for honey bee drone seminal fluid proteins in queen reproduction and health. We finish by proposing future avenues of research. Further elucidating the role of drone fertility in queen reproductive health may contribute towards reducing colony losses and advancing honey bee stock development.
Highlights
Honey bees are major pollinators of agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes
The queen flies up to 3 km away from her hive to rendezvous with thousands of drones at a drone congregation area (DCA), located 5–40 m above ground [20]
Preliminary data suggests that drone seminal fluid, when injected in the queen abdominal cavity, reduces sexual receptivity and affects queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) production; queens injected with seminal fluid make fewer attempts at mating flights and tend to provoke higher worker retinue response compared to buffer-injected controls
Summary
Mating only occurs for a short period early in a queen’s life, but it initiates multiple. Mating only occurs for a short period early in a queen’s life, but it initiates post-mating post-mating changes that impact queen reproduction and potentially colonymultiple health and productivity changes that impact queen reproduction and potentially colony health and productivity (Figure 1). 1. Stressors impacting queen and drone fertility and their downstream effects on queen quality and post-mating changes and worker behavior and physiology. Varroa destructor destructor mites, whichincluding affect drone mating flight and seminal fluid proteome mites, which affect drone mating flight behavior seminal fluidvolume proteome These and other drone mating factors, such and as insemination and composition. Insemination These fluid and factors, impact queen which subsequently affect the behaviorfluid and physiology of othercomposition drone mating such fertility, as insemination volume and insemination composition workers. Altered queen-worker interactions may affect colony level productivity and health
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