Meeting Abstract

P2.90  Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30  Hormonal interactions between Royal Jelly and a juvenile hormone analog on Manduca sexta development. NICHOLAS, S.A.*; DAVIS, J.E.; Radford University, Virginia; Radford University, Virginia sanicholas@radford.edu

Royal jelly is a secretion that, when consumed by honeybees (Apis mellifera), leads to the development of queens. Recent evidence suggests that hormones found within royal jelly, such as the protein royalactin, may alter the physiology of invertebrates other than just honey bees. In previous studies, both Drosophila melanogaster (Kamakura, 2011) and Gromphorrdinia portantosa have exhibited substantial physiological changes in development when treated with royal jelly. Research in our laboratory suggests that royal jelly interacts with juvenile hormone, or at least at points within the same hormonal axis. We studied the effects royal jelly and methoprene, a juvenile hormone analog, on Manduca sexta. Although the results of the project are only suggestive, due to high mortality rate, we have reason to believe that royal jelly and specifically the functional hormones within royal jelly, does indeed modulate the development of Manduca sexta. By determining the effects royal jelly has on Manduca sexta and other invertebrates we will expand our understanding of the mechanisms and evolution of arthropodal hormonal systems.