@article{BeckerKucharskiRoessleretal.2016,
  author    = {Becker, Nils and Kucharski, Robert and R{\"o}ssler, Wolfgang and Maleszka, Ryszard},
  title     = {Age-dependent transcriptional and epigenomic responses to light exposure in the honey bee brain},
  series = {FEBS Open Bio},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {FEBS Open Bio},
  number    = {7},
  doi       = {10.1002/2211-5463.12084},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-147080},
  pages     = {622-639},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Light is a powerful environmental stimulus of special importance in social honey bees that undergo a behavioral transition from in-hive to outdoor foraging duties. Our previous work has shown that light exposure induces structural neuronal plasticity in the mushroom bodies (MBs), a brain center implicated in processing inputs from sensory modalities. Here, we extended these analyses to the molecular level to unravel light-induced transcriptomic and epigenomic changes in the honey bee brain. We have compared gene expression in brain compartments of 1- and 7-day-old light-exposed honey bees with age-matched dark-kept individuals. We have found a number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), both novel and conserved, including several genes with reported roles in neuronal plasticity. Most of the DEGs show age-related changes in the amplitude of light-induced expression and are likely to be both developmentally and environmentally regulated. Some of the DEGs are either known to be methylated or are implicated in epigenetic processes suggesting that responses to light exposure are at least partly regulated at the epigenome level. Consistent with this idea light alters the DNA methylation pattern of bgm, one of the DEGs affected by light exposure, and the expression of microRNA miR-932. This confirms the usefulness of our approach to identify candidate genes for neuronal plasticity and provides evidence for the role of epigenetic processes in driving the molecular responses to visual stimulation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HurdGruebelWojciechowskietal.2021,
  author    = {Hurd, Paul J. and Gr{\"u}bel, Kornelia and Wojciechowski, Marek and Maleszka, Ryszard and R{\"o}ssler, Wolfgang},
  title     = {Novel structure in the nuclei of honey bee brain neurons revealed by immunostaining},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {11},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41598-021-86078-5},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260059},
  pages     = {6852},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {In the course of a screen designed to produce antibodies (ABs) with affinity to proteins in the honey bee brain we found an interesting AB that detects a highly specific epitope predominantly in the nuclei of Kenyon cells (KCs). The observed staining pattern is unique, and its unfamiliarity indicates a novel previously unseen nuclear structure that does not colocalize with the cytoskeletal protein f-actin. A single rod-like assembly, 3.7-4.1 mu m long, is present in each nucleus of KCs in adult brains of worker bees and drones with the strongest immuno-labelling found in foraging bees. In brains of young queens, the labelling is more sporadic, and the rod-like structure appears to be shorter (similar to 2.1 mu m). No immunostaining is detectable in worker larvae. In pupal stage 5 during a peak of brain development only some occasional staining was identified. Although the cellular function of this unexpected structure has not been determined, the unusual distinctiveness of the revealed pattern suggests an unknown and potentially important protein assembly. One possibility is that this nuclear assembly is part of the KCs plasticity underlying the brain maturation in adult honey bees. Because no labelling with this AB is detectable in brains of the fly Drosophila melanogaster and the ant Camponotus floridanus, we tentatively named this antibody AmBNSab (Apis mellifera Brain Neurons Specific antibody). Here we report our results to make them accessible to a broader community and invite further research to unravel the biological role of this curious nuclear structure in the honey bee central brain.},
  language  = {en}
}