Activity of telomerase and telomeric length in Apis mellifera

One of the well-established patterns in the biology of aging is a phenomenon known as the cost of reproduction, showing that reproductive investment reduces health and longevity. The conventional wisdom of reproduction-longevity trade-off is, however,

contradicted in eusocial insects, such as Apis mellifera. While in most organisms, more reproduction reduces survival and less reproduction increases life span, a honeybee queen lives up to 60 times longer than nonreproductive female workers in her colony. It was proposed that extraordinary lifespan of reproductive casts in eusocial insect might be associated with high activity of telomerase. Telomerase is an enzyme that adds repeats of DNA sequences to the ends of chromosomes, thereby preventing their shortening. Telomerase activity is associated with proliferative status of cells, organismal development, and aging. We report an analysis of telomerase activity and telomere length in the honeybee, Apis mellifera. Telomerase activity was found to be regulated in a development and caste-specific manner. During the development of somatic tissues of larval drones and workers, telomerase activity declined to 10 % of its level in embryos and remained low during pupal and adult stages. Upregulation of telomerase activity was observed in the ovaries of late pupal queens, reaching 160 % of the level in embryos. An enormous increase was observed in adult brains of queens, showing a 70-fold increase compared to brains of workers and drones. Our observation, therefore, supports the hypothesis that longevity of honeybee queens is associated with high telomerase activity.

Korandová M., Frydrychová R. (2016) Activity of telomerase activity and telomeric length in Apis mellifera. Chromosoma 125: 405-411.
DOI: 10.1007/s00412-015-0547-4