Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Selective neuroanatomical plasticity and division of labour in the honeybee

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

THE mushroom bodies in the protocerebrum are believed to be the structures of the insect brain most closely associated with higher-order sensory integration and learning1. Drosophila melanogaster mutants with olfactory learning deficits have anatomically abnormal mushroom bodies or altered patterns of gene expression in mushroom body neurons2–4. In addition, anatomical reorganization of the mushroom bodies occurs in adult flies5, and possibly in adult honeybees6,7; disturbance of electrical activity in this region disrupts memory formation in honeybees8. Little is known, however, about the relationship of naturally occurring anatomical changes in the mushroom bodies to naturally occurring behavioural plasticity. We now report that age-based division of labour in adult worker honeybees (Apis mellifera) is associated with substantial changes in certain brain regions, notably the mushroom bodies. Moreover, these striking changes in brain structure are dependent, not on the age of the bee, but on its foraging experience, thus demonstrating a robust anatomical plasticity associated with complex behaviour in an adult insect.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Erber, J., Homberg, U. & Gronenberg, W. in Arthropod Brain: Its Evolution. Development, Structure and Functions (ed. Gupta, A. P.) 484–512 (Wiley, New York, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Heisenberg, M., Borst, A., Wagner, S. & Byers, D. J. Neurogenet. 2, 1–30 (1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Nighorn, A., Healey, M. J. & Davis R. L. Neuron 6, 455–467 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Han, P-L, Levin, L. R., Reed, R. R. & Davis, R. L. Neuron 9, 619–627 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Technau, G. M. J. Neurogenet. 1, 113–126 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Brandon, J. & Coss, R. Brain Res. 252, 51–61 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Coss, R., Brandon, J. & Globus, A. Brain Res. 192, 49–59 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Erber, J., Masuhr, T. & Menzel, R. Physiol. Ent. 5, 343–358 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Winston, M. L. The Biology of the Honey Bee, 89–110 (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Robinson, G. E. A. Rev. Ent. 37, 637–665 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Gundersen, H. J. G. et al. Acta path. microbiol. Immun. scand. 96, 379–394 (1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Black, J. E., Isaacs, K. R., Anderson, B. J., Alcantara, A. A. & Greenough, W. T. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 5568–5572 (1990)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. DeVoogd, R. J., Nixdorf, B. & Nottebohm, F. Brain Res. 329, 304–308 (1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Turner, A. M. & Greenough, W. T. Brain Res. 329, 195–203 (1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Mobbs, P. G. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B298, 309–354 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Robinson, G. E., Page Jr, R. E., Strambi, C. & Strambi, A. Science, 246, 109–112 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Huang, Z.-Y. & Robinson, G. E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 11726–11729 (1993).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Menzel, R. in Neurobiology of Comparative Cognition (eds Kesner, R. P. & Olton, D. S.) 237–292 (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Gould, J. L. A. Rev. Psychol. 37, 163–192 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. von Frisch, K. The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees (Belknap/Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1967).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mobbs, P. G. J. Insect Physiol. 30, 43–58 (1984).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ramony Cajal, S. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 55, 444–468 (1894).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Tanzi, E. Riv. sper. Freniat. Med. leg. Alien, ment., 19, 419–472 (1893).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Kenyon, F. C. J. comp. Neurol. 6, 133–210 (1896).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. SAS Institute SAS Users Guide: Statistics Version 5 (SAS Institute, Cary, 1985).

  26. Michel, R. P. & Cruz-Orive, L. M. J. Microsc. 150, 117–136 (1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Laidlaw, H.H. Instrumental Insemination of Honey Bee Queens (Dadant, Hamilton, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA

    Ginger S. Withers, Susan E. Fahrbach & Gene E. Robinson

  2. Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA

    Susan E. Fahrbach & Gene E. Robinson

Authors
  1. Ginger S. Withers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susan E. Fahrbach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gene E. Robinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Withers, G., Fahrbach, S. & Robinson, G. Selective neuroanatomical plasticity and division of labour in the honeybee. Nature 364, 238–240 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/364238a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/364238a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation