An important function of chemical communication in social life is to coordinate the timing of physiological and behavioral development. Postembryonic development occurs in many species, including humans. As individuals age and pass through different stages of their lives, their physiological and behavioral responses to specific situations change. The goal of this project is to contribute to our understanding of how chemical communication influences physiological and behavioral development. Studying pheromone regulation of endocrine and behavioral development in the honey bee offers a unique opportunity: the occurrence of this phenomenon in an insect invites rigorous experimentation while its complexity makes it a relevant model. Hormonal and neuroanatomical studies of behavioral development have demonstrated that the bee possesses some of the same type of regulatory mechanisms that vertebrates do. Moreover, recent results indicate that the regulation of endocrine-mediated behavioral development in the honey bee is strikingly similar to pheromone regulation of reproductive development in some mammals. The bee will be used in a novel coupling of established techniques in pheromone biology, endocrinology, and behavior. Primer pheromones that inhibit endocrine-mediated behavioral development will be identified; few such primer pheromones, from any species, have yet been conclusively identified. Preliminary results strongly suggest that the pheromones are known compounds from the queen and worker mandibular glands. The experiments will involve exposing bees to the putative pheromones and measuring juvenile hormone blood titers, juvenile hormone rates of biosynthesis, and rates of behavioral development under both laboratory and field conditions. Studies also will determine how the pheromones interact with one another, how they are communicated under different social conditions, and whether their effectiveness depends on tactile communication. In addition to the techniques mentioned, these experiments also will involve established methods of quantifying mandibular gland compounds by gas chromatography and rearing individuals either in social groups or in complete isolation. The regulation of pheromone production also will be studied. Preliminary results support the hypothesis that pheromone production is regulated by the corpora allata, the gland that produces juvenile hormone. This hypothesis will be rigorously tested by performing hormone treatment experiments and by taking full advantage o the range of behavioral manipulations possible with bees to dissociate age from endocrine and behavioral status.
