Results of follow-up experiments to "Odorant cues linked to social immunity induce lateralized antennal stimulation in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)"

Abstract

In 2017, we published the paper \"Odorant cues linked to social immunity induce lateralized antennal stimulation in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)\" in Scientific Reports. Since then, we have performed three follow-up experiments which have either negative or contradictory results. Previously, we used electrophysiology to show that hygienic bees displayed significantly higher sensitivity to {beta}-ocimene when stimulated via their left antennae compared to their right. We repeated this assay using worker honey bees from a single hygienic colony and found, to our surprise, that the right antennae elicited higher sensitivity. We also previously attempted to identify a molecular basis for lateralization by using mass spectrometry-based proteomics to compare left and right antennal proteomes. Of the 1,845 proteins, none were differentially expressed. Here, we repeated this experiment but employed orthogonal peptide fractionation to increase proteome coverage to 3,114 proteins; however, still none were differentially expressed. Finally, we attempted to manipulate gene expression of a key antennal odorant binding protein linked to hygienic behaviour (OBP18) using RNA interference via antenna microinjection. We were not able to achieve long-lasting OBP18 knock-down, but comparing the proteomes of untreated, mock dsRNA-treated and OBP18 dsRNA-treated worker antennae revealed numerous off-target effects of the act of injecting alone. By openly reporting this data, we hope to set an example for information transparency.