Meeting Abstract
Royal jelly is a secretion that is produced by worker bees, and fed to the queen bee. It consists of several proteins, which are essential to the growth and reproductive success of the queen bee. Within royal jelly, the glycoprotein royalactin is thought to be of particular importance in epigenetic modulation that leads to the increased growth, lifespan, and fecundity of queen bees. The protein functions, in part, by upregulating epidermal growth factor via signal transduction, which in turn leads to both epigenetic and phenotypic changes. Although the effects of royal jelly on bees is widely known, there has not been much research to investigate the effects of royal jelly on other arthropods. We set out to determine the effects of royal jelly on Aedes aegypti, with a focus on their growth rate, mortality, and lifespan. Mosquitos were given one of several treatments including royal jelly, heat-denatured royal jelly, royalactin plasmid+ E. coli, and lab strain E. coli, as well as methoprene (a juvenile hormone agonist) in concert with royal jelly. All groups were compared against an untreated control. In this poster presentation, we will discuss the differences in growth, mortality, and lifespan between the test groups, and their implications in relation to the function of royalactin in a non-hymenopteran model organism. We will also explore various potential experiments that relate to our findings.
