RDY-B. Wow, OK, Vitellogenin. Listening, learning, this is what good beekeepers should strive for. I googled the term vitellogenin and read about it. I will be studying more. I am surprised that this terminology has never come up in all the studies I have done on beekeeping. Just to make things a little more interesting, I copied from the Wikopedia site the diddy on vitellogenin, for those (like how I am usually) are a little lazy and say, ya, I'll look at this later. It is important for us as beekeepers to be informed, study and learn as much as we can. It is good for us as human beings, and those as the girls that we all want to keep healthy and allow us to be involved in their beautiful little lives. We are privileged to have these bees, we should take good care of them. They are ours, only as long as we help them to live happy and healthy lives. The excerpt follows in italic quotes:
"Vitellogenin and honey bees
Honey bees deposit vitellogenin in fat bodies in their abdomen and heads. The fat bodies apparently acts as a food storage reservoir. The glycolipoprotein vitellogenin has additional functionality as it acts as an antioxidant to prolong Queen bee and forager lifespan as well as a hormone that affects future foraging behavior. [1] The health of a honey bee colony is dependent upon the vitellogenin reserves of the nurse bees - the foragers have low levels of vitellogenin. As expendable laborers the foragers are fed just enough protein to keep them working their risky task of collecting nectar and pollen. Vitellogenin is important during the nest stage and thus for worker division of labor. A nurse bees vitellogenin titer that developed in the first four days after emergence, affects its subsequent age to begin foraging and whether it preferentially forages for nectar or pollen. If young workers are short on food their first days of life, they tend to begin foraging early and preferentially for nectar. If they are moderately fed, they forage at normal age preferentially for nectar. If they are abundantly fed, immediately after emergence, their vitellogenin titer is high and they begin foraging later in life, preferentially collecting pollen, which is the only available protein source for honey bees.
Vitellogenin and juvenile hormone feedback loop
Vitellogenin is part of a regulatory feedback loop that enables vitellogenin and juvenile hormone to mutually suppress each other. Vitellogenin and juvenile hormone work antagonistically in the honey bee to regulate their development and behavior. Suppression of one leads to high titers of the other. [2] It is likely that the balance between vitellogenin and juvenile hormone levels is also involved in swarming behavior. [3] Juvenile hormone levels drop pre-swarming and it is expected that vitellogenin levels would therefore rise. Swarming bees would want to pack along as much vitellogenin as possible to extend their lifespan and to be able to quickly build a new nest."
My suggestion to our forum friends would be to go a little deeper into the understanding of the biology of the honeybee and find out more about this glycolipoprotein vitellogenin, I know I will be -- and right RDY-B, listening, learning. Have a wonderful day, beautiful life. Cindi