关键词: 蜜蜂, 觅食行为, 蕈形体, per mRNA, 章鱼胺

Abstract: Mushroom bodies play a central role in spatial navigation and foraging behavior in bees. The researchers found that the mushroom bodies of foragers were 14.8 percent larger than those of the other groups (oneday bees and nurses). This is a particularly striking finding because the relative volume of other nerve clusters in the honeybee brains remained relatively unchanged. Over the last few years, with the explosion of molecular genetic technology, a much more detailed picture of genes, mRNA abundance in the brain, and foraging in bees were emerged. In a largescale study of 5 500 genes, Charles found that changes in mRNA levels associated with 39 percent of these genes were involved in the transition from hive work to foraging behavior in bees. Octopamine (a neurohormone) was linked to the increased foraging activity in bees. It showed that octopamine modulateed learning and memory in bees, and also affected their visual, olfactory, and gustatory sense. Foraging bees have more octopamine in their brains than nurse bees, and this hormone reaches its highest concentration when a bee switches from nestbound activities to foraging activities.

Key words: honey bee, foraging behavior, mushroom body, per mRNA, octopamine