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Published Online March 13, 2008
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1153069

Reports

Submitted on November 16, 2007
Accepted on February 27, 2008

Nutritional Control of Reproductive Status in Honeybees via DNA Methylation

R. Kucharski 1{dagger}, J. Maleszka 1{dagger}, S. Foret 1, R. Maleszka 1*

1 Molecular Genetics and Evolution, ARC Centre for the Molecular Genetics of Development, Research School of Biological Sciences, the Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
R. Maleszka , E-mail: maleszka{at}rsbs.anu.edu.au

{dagger}These authors contributed equally to this work.

Fertile queens and sterile workers are alternative forms of the adult female honey bee that develop from genetically identical larvae following differential feeding with royal jelly. We now show that silencing the expression of DNA methyltransferase Dnmt3, a key driver of epigenetic global reprogramming, in newly hatched larvae, leads to a stunning royal jelly-like effect on the larval developmental trajectory; the majority of Dnmt3 siRNA-treated individuals now emerge as queens with fully developed ovaries. Our results suggest that; DNA methylation in Apis is utilized for storing epigenetic information; that the utilization of that information can be differentially altered by nutritional input, and that the flexibility of epigenetic modifications underpin profound shifts in developmental fates with massive implications for reproductive and behavioural status.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)