AUTHOR=Bianco Olivia E. , Abdi Aisha , Klein Matthias S. , Wei Xueyan , Sim Cheolho , Meuti Megan E. 

TITLE=Consuming royal jelly alters several phenotypes associated with overwintering dormancy in mosquitoes

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Insect Science

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/insect-science/articles/10.3389/finsc.2024.1358619

DOI=10.3389/finsc.2024.1358619

ISSN=2673-8600

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Females of the Northern house mosquito, <italic>Culex pipiens</italic>, enter an overwintering dormancy, or diapause, in response to short day lengths and low environmental temperatures that is characterized by small egg follicles and high starvation resistance. During diapause, <italic>Culex pipiens</italic> Major Royal Jelly Protein 1 ortholog (CpMRJP1) is upregulated in females of <italic>Cx. pipiens</italic>. This protein is highly abundant in royal jelly, a substance produced by honey bees (<italic>Apis mellifera</italic>), that is fed to future queens throughout larval development and induces the queen phenotype (e.g., high reproductive activity and longer lifespan). However, the role of CpMRJP1 in <italic>Cx. pipiens</italic> is unknown.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We first conducted a phylogenetic analysis to determine how the sequence of CpMRJP1 compares with other species. We then investigated how supplementing the diets of both diapausing and nondiapausing females of <italic>Cx. pipiens</italic> with royal jelly affects egg follicle length, fat content, protein content, starvation resistance, and metabolic profile.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>We found that feeding royal jelly to females reared in long-day, diapause-averting conditions significantly reduced the egg follicle lengths and switched their metabolic profiles to be similar to diapausing females. In contrast, feeding royal jelly to females reared in short-day, diapause-inducing conditions significantly reduced lifespan and switched their metabolic profile to be similar nondiapausing mosquitoes. Moreover, RNAi directed against <italic>CpMRJPI</italic> significantly increased egg follicle length of short-day reared females, suggesting that these females averted diapause.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>Taken together, our data show that consuming royal jelly reverses several key seasonal phenotypes of <italic>Cx. pipiens</italic> and that these responses are likely mediated in part by CpMRJP1.</p></sec>