In the course of our study on the semiochemicals in social bees, worker mandibular glands components of honey bees and bumble bees were analyzed by GC/MS. Three Bombus species gave both 2-alkanones (C7 and C9) and 3-hydroxyalkanoic acids (C8 and C10). Quantitative analyses revealed that ratios of 2-alkanones/3-hydroxyalkanoic acids ranged from 1/10 to 1/20. In Apis species, the Japanese honey bee, Apis cerana japonica, gave 3-HOA as a forager-specific major compound with a small amount of 2-heptanone, whereas Apis mellifera gave about 1 microgram of 2-heptanone and trace amount of 3-HOA. These results implicate that 2-alkanones in bee mandibular glands are biosynthesized from corresponding 3-hydroxyalkanoic acids by two steps of hydroxyl group oxidation and decarboxylation.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Apidae Apis mellifera (European honey bee)
Species 2: Hymenoptera Apidae Apis cerana (Asian honey bee)
Species 3: Hymenoptera Apidae Bombus diversus
Keywords: 2-alkanone, mandibular gland
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