Kruppel homolog 1 (Kr-h1) is a zinc finger transcription factor whose brain expression levels are associated with foraging behavior and are regulated by queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) in honey bees. We used behavioral, physiological, and genomic approaches to investigate the factors which regulate expression of Kr-h1 in honey bees, and employed a comparative genomics approach to begin to characterize the molecular function of this protein. We demonstrated that brain expression of Kr-h1 is associated with permanent physiological changes that occur during behavioral maturation from nursing to foraging, rather than the acute expression of foraging behavior. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Kr-h1 expression is modulated by cGMP, a key regulator of behavior maturation, and identified a potential cGMP response element in the promoter of Kr-h1. We then characterized the interactions between cGMP and QMP. cGMP inhibited behavioral and physiological responses to QMP, and partially inhibited expression changes of QMP-responsive genes in the brain. Treatment with these factors specifically altered expression of genes associated with GTPase regulator activity, phototransduction, and positive regulation of antibacterial peptide biosynthetic process. However, cGMP did not affect the expression of AmOr11, an odorant receptor specific for a major chemical component of QMP, suggesting that cGMP might work centrally rather than peripherally to modulate the response to QMP. Finally, we elucidated changes in gene expression that resulted from the absence of Kr-h1 expression during D. melanogaster development and discovered an associated motif in the promoter of the majority of the significantly expressed genes, which may mediate the effects of Kr-h1. Further analysis, however, showed that this motif is unlikely to be biologically relevant. These studies have demonstrated the ability of physiological factors to modulate responsiveness to social cues, and provided further information about the role of Kr-h1 in regulating behavior in bees.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-08112009-122845 |
| Date | 04 December 2009 |
| Creators | Fussnecker, Brendon Louis |
| Contributors | James W. Mahaffey, Christina M. Grozinger, Patricia A. Estes, Eric A. Stone |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-08112009-122845/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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