Royalactin induces queen differentiation.pdfVIP

ARTICLE doi:10.1038/nature10093 Royalactin induces queen differentiation in honeybees Masaki Kamakura1 The honeybee (Apis mellifera) forms two female castes: the queen and the worker. This dimorphism depends not on genetic differences, but on ingestion of royal jelly, although the mechanism through which royal jelly regulates caste differentiation has long remained unknown. Here I show that a 57-kDa protein in royal jelly, previously designated as royalactin, induces the differentiation of honeybee larvae into queens. Royalactin increased body size and ovary development and shortened developme