The activity of carbohydrate-degrading enzymes in the development of brood and newly emerged workers and drones of the Carniolan honeybee, Apis mellifera carnica

Krystyna Żółtowska1a, Zbigniew Lipiński2b, Elżbieta Łopieńska-Biernat1c*, Marek Farjan1d, Małgorzata Dmitryjuk1e

1Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Biology, University of Warmia and Mazury, Oczapowskiego 1A Str., 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
2Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory BIOLAB, Grunwaldzka 62 Str., 14-100 Ostróda, Poland

Abstract

The activity of glycogen phosphorylase and carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes α-amylase, glucoamylase, trehalase, and sucrase was studied in the development of the Carniolan honey bee, Apis mellifera carnica Pollman (Hymenoptera: Apidae), from newly hatched larva to freshly emerged imago of worker and drone. Phosphorolytic degradation of glycogen was significantly stronger than hydrolytic degradation in all developmental stages. Developmental profiles of hydrolase activity were similar in both sexes of brood; high activity was found in unsealed larvae, the lowest in prepupae followed by an increase in enzymatic activity. Especially intensive increases in activity occurred in the last stage of pupae and newly emerged imago. Besides α- amylase, the activities of other enzymes were higher in drone than in worker broods. Among drones, activity of glucoamylase was particularly high, ranging from around three times higher in the youngest larvae to 13 times higher in the oldest pupae. This confirms earlier suggestions about higher rates of metabolism in drone broods than in worker broods.

Keywords: α-glucosidases, amylase, carbohydrate metabolism, disaccharidases, glycogen phosphorylase, sucrase, trehalase, Western honeybee development

Correspondence: a k.zoltowska@uwm.edu.pl, b Lipinski@sprint.com.pl, c ela.lopienska@uwm.edu.pl, d marek.farjan@wp.pl, e m.dmit@uwm.edu.pl, *Corresponding author

Editor: Donald Jarvis was Editor of this paper.

Received: 22 February 2011 | Accepted: 17 October 2011 | Published: 9 February 2012

ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 12, Number 22

Żółtowska K, Lipiński Z, Łopieńska-Biernat E, Farjan M, Dmitryjuk M. 2012. The activity of carbohydrate-degrading enzymes in the development of brood and newly emerged workers and drones of the Carniolan honeybee, Apis mellifera carnica. Journal of Insect Science 12:22 available online: insectscience.org/12.22