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Gene expression analysis following olfactory learning in Apis mellifera

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Abstract

The honeybee has a strong learning and memory ability, and is recognized as the best model organism for studying the neurobiological basis of learning and memory. In this study, we analyzed the gene expression difference following proboscis extension response-based olfactory learning in the A. mellifera using a tag-based digital gene expression (DGE) method. We obtained about 5.71 and 5.65 million clean tags from the trained group and untrained group, respectively. A total of 259 differentially expressed genes were detected between these two samples, with 30 genes up-regulated and 229 genes down-regulated in trained group compared to the untrained group. These results suggest that bees tend to actively suppress some genes instead of activating previously silent genes after olfactory learning. Our DGE data provide comprehensive gene expression information for olfactory learning, which will facilitate our understanding of the molecular mechanism of honey bee learning and memory.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Shao-Wu Zhang for invaluable guidance and assistance in PER experiment and thank Dr. Zachary Huang for reviewing this manuscript. This work was supported by the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (No.CARS-45-KXJ12) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31060327).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Honeybee Research Institute, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, Jiangxi, China

    Zi-Long Wang, Huan Wang, Qiu-Hong Qin & Zhi-Jiang Zeng

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  1. Zi-Long Wang
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  2. Huan Wang
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  3. Qiu-Hong Qin
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  4. Zhi-Jiang Zeng
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Correspondence to Zhi-Jiang Zeng.

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11033_2012_2212_MOESM1_ESM.xls

Supplementary file 1 The differentially expressed genes between trained and untrained groups. TPM: transcript copies per million tags. Raw intensity: the total number of tags sequenced for each gene. FDR: false discovery rate. We used FDR ≤ 0.001 and the absolute value of log2Ratio ≥ 1 as the threshold to judge the significance of gene expression difference. In order to calculate the log2Ratio and FDR, we used TPM value of 0.01 instead of 0 for genes that do not express in one sample. (XLS 143 kb)

11033_2012_2212_MOESM2_ESM.xls

Supplementary file 2 Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes. The results were summarized in three main categories: biological process, cellular component and molecular function. (XLS 138 kb)

Supplementary file 3 KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes. (XLS 46 kb)

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Wang, ZL., Wang, H., Qin, QH. et al. Gene expression analysis following olfactory learning in Apis mellifera . Mol Biol Rep 40, 1631–1639 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-2212-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-2212-9

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