A study of aging in the honey bee brain

The honey bee is a key neurobiological model for understanding learning and memory formation. As a highly social invertebrate, moreover, the bee provides unique opportunities for cutting-edge research on aging and frailty because it opens up the interface between the individual and the social environment. Our group at UMB's Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences has over the last five years contributed to a deeper understanding of the regulation of honey bee lifespan. We have, e.g., shown that agi ng in worker bees is not a clear-cut function of chronological age. This is because aging can be controlled by social signals through a feedback pathway that involves the systemic hormone juvenile hormone and the gene vitellogenin. Recently, we examined i f oxidative brain damage, a hallmark of aging, can be affected by social signals as well. Our preliminary data, obtained from immunohistochemical staining of 150 brains from 8-200 day-old worker bees, suggest that this is indeed the case. The proposal pre sented here outlines how we intend to move forward in our work to understand the pathology and social regulation of honey bee brain aging. We will take advantage of the fact that we are at the research forefront in the area of honey bee longevity regulati on; mastering techniques including immunohistochemistry, protein analysis and RNA interference. From this foundation, we will dissect the pathology of bee brain aging in collaboration with Dr. Gimsa University of Rostock, Dr. Mandarino Arizona State Unive rsity, and the FUGE platforms MIC and PROBE (Sub-goal 1). Next, together with Dr. Scheiner Technical University of Berlin, who is an expert in the use of the bee as a neurobiological model, we will establish how brain aging affects the bee's sensory sensi tivity and cognitive abilities (Sub-goal 2). Finally, we will determine the extent of which the pathologies mapped under Sub-goals 1 and 2 can be controlled, and possibly reversed, by social signals (Sub-goal 3).