As an important catecholamine neurotransmitter in invertebrates and vertebrates, dopamine plays multiple roles in the life of the honey bee. Dopamine receptors (DA), which specifically bind to dopamine to activate downstream cascades, have been reported to be involved in honey bee reproduction, division of labour, as well as learning and motor behaviour. However, how dopamine receptors regulate honey bee behavior remains uninvestigated. The expression level of Amdop2 in the brain increased with the age of worker bees, which was just the opposite trend of ame-let-7. Inhibition of ame-let-7 through feeding an inhibitor upregulated Amdop2 expression; conversely, overexpression of ame-let-7 through a mimic downregulated Amdop2. Moreover, knockdown of Amdop2 in forager brain led to significantly higher sucrose responsiveness, which is similar to the phenotype of overexpression of ame-let-7. Finally, we confirmed that ame-let-7 directly targets Amdop2 in vitro by a luciferase reporter assay. ame-let-7 is involved in the dopamine receptor signaling pathway to modulate the sucrose sensitivity in honey bees. Specifically, it down-regulates Amdop2, which then induces higher responses to sucrose. These results further unraveled the diverse mechanisms of the dopamine pathway in the regulation of insect behavior.

中文翻译：

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MicroRNA ame-let-7 靶向 Amdop2 以提高蜜蜂 (Apis mellifera) 的蔗糖敏感性


作为无脊椎动物和脊椎动物中重要的儿茶酚胺神经递质，多巴胺在蜜蜂的生命中发挥着多种作用。据报道，多巴胺受体 (DA) 与多巴胺特异性结合，激活下游级联，参与蜜蜂繁殖、劳动分工以及学习和运动行为。然而，多巴胺受体如何调节蜜蜂的行为仍未得到研究。 Amdop2在大脑中的表达水平随着工蜂年龄的增长而增加，这与ame-let-7的趋势正好相反。通过喂食抑制剂抑制 ame-let-7 上调 Amdop2 表达；相反，通过模拟下调 Amdop2 过度表达 ame-let-7。此外，在觅食者大脑中敲低Amdop2会导致蔗糖反应性显着升高，这与ame-let-7过度表达的表型相似。最后，我们通过荧光素酶报告基因测定证实 ame-let-7 在体外直接靶向 Amdop2。 ame-let-7 参与多巴胺受体信号通路来调节蜜蜂的蔗糖敏感性。具体来说，它会下调 Amdop2，从而诱导对蔗糖的更高反应。这些结果进一步揭示了多巴胺途径调节昆虫行为的多种机制。