Honey bees, Apis mellifera, that perform hygenic behavior, detect, uncap and remove diseased brood before it becomes infectious. Therefore, hygenic bees demonstrate behavioral, but not necessarily physiological, resistance to disease. Bees bred for hygenic behavior demonstrate enhanced detection and behavioral response to olfactory stimuli associated with diseased brood relative to non-hygenic bees, which may be mediated by biogenic amines. This study examined whether 15-18d. old hygenic bees have greater olfactory sensitivity to other biologically relevant odors than same aged, non-hygenic bees. Using electroantennogram recordings, responses of the two sets of bees to brood pheromone, and to floral odors were compared at various concentrations. The results reveal whether chemosensory neurons of hygenic bees are "differentially tuned" to odors of diseased brood, or if hygenic bees have greater sensitivity of all odors.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Apidae Apis mellifera (honey bee)
Keywords: electroantennogram, olfaction
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