Separate protein body compartments of the worker honeybee ( Apis mellifera L.)

Abstract

1. 1. Protein of adult worker bees are secreted from their exocrine glands in royal jelly and in venom or in eggs laid by laying workers in queenless colonies. 2. 2. The present report examines the protein composition of head and thoracic glands, venom glands, fat body and ovaries, the relation of these proteins to haemolymph proteins and the possible exchange of macromolecules between glandular compartments, the haemocoele and the organs located in the haemocoele. 3. 3. The identity of proteins from various compartments was established by double-diffusion, immunoelectrophoresis, gradient acrylamide slab gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing. 4. 4. Royal jelly is composed of proteins secreted from hypopharyngeal, mandibular and postcerebral, but not from thoracic glands. 5. 5. No immunological identity was found between the proteins of royal jelly, venom and haemolymph. The glands producing the two secretions seem to be separate compartments from the haemocoele with regards to macromolecular traffic. 6. 6. In contrast to the exocrine glands many of haemolymph proteins were shared by the fat body and the ovaries. 7. 7. Some aspects of macromolecular traffic between the body compartments in insects are discussed.