Why not be a queen? Regioselectivity in mandibular secretions of honeybee castes

E Plettner, GRJ Sutherland, KN Slessor…

Index: Plettner; Sutherland; Slessor; Winston Journal of Chemical Ecology, 1995 , vol. 21, # 7 p. 1017 - 1029

Full Text: HTML

Citation Number: 30

Abstract

Abstract Both female castes of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) synthesize hydroxylated 2 (E)-decenoic acids in their mandibular glands. Queens produce 9-hydroxy-2 (E)-decenoic acid as part of their primer pheromone, while workers produce the regioisomeric 10-hydroxy acid, probably as a larval food source and an antiseptic secretion. Both workers and queens are biosynthetically competent to produce the other caste's dominant hydroxylated ...