Supplementary MaterialsS1 Desk: The quantity of total RNA of each lot utilized for the reverse transcription. of the mKast protein. Prominent expression was first detected in the brain after the P7 pupal stage. In addition, was expressed almost selectively in the brain, suggesting its late pupal and adult specific functions in the brain. Immunohistochemistry revealed that mKast-like immunoreactivity is usually detected in several regions in the worker brain: inside and around the MB calyces, at the outer edges of the OL lobula, at the outer surface of and posterior to the antennal lobes (ALs), along the dorsal midline of the anterior brain and at the outer surface of the subesophageal ganglions (SOG). mKast-like immunoreactivities in the MBs, OLs, ALs and SOG were due to the corresponding neurons, while mKast-like immunoreactivities beneath/between the MB calyces were assumed to most likely correspond to the lateral/medial neurosecretory cells. Introduction 23567-23-9 The European honeybee (L.) is usually a eusocial insect and their colony users exhibit various exquisite social behaviors, including the well-known dance communication [1C3]. The detailed neural bases of their interpersonal behaviors, however, are still not well comprehended. Among other compartments, insect brains comprise the mushroom body (MBs; higher order processing centers), optic lobes (OLs; visual centers), antennal lobes (ALs; olfactory centers), and subesophageal ganglion (SOG), a center for sensory and motor processing related to mouthparts functions [4C10]. The honeybee MBs are paired brain structures and each MB has two cup-like structures, termed calyces. Previous studies have suggested that this honeybee MBs comprise three types of KCs, intrinsic MB interneurons: class I large-type KCs (lKCs, also termed class I non-compact KCs) and class I small-type KCs (sKCs, also termed class I compact KCs), whose somata are localized at the outer edges and in the innercore inside the MB calyces, respectively, and class II KCs, whose somata 23567-23-9 are localized at the outer surface of the MB calyces [4C8]. Genetic studies in revealed that this MBs are involved in learning and memory [11C13]. In the honeybee, MBs function not only in learning and memory but also multimodal sensory integration [14C16]. Some preceding studies showed that this MB composition changes during the transition of workers from nurse bees to foragers as well as related to the foraging experience, implying that this MB function relates to the foraging behavior [17, 18]. In addition, Farris and Schulmeister exhibited that during Hymenopteran development from a solitary way of life through a parasitic to a eusocial way of life MB elaboration is usually associated with the emergence of parasitism rather than sociality [19]. The authors proposed that this complex MB structure has been acquired associated with the foraging behaviors of 23567-23-9 parasitic wasps [19]. These studies suggest that the 23567-23-9 MB functions are related to foraging behaviors in the honeybees. To identify the molecular and neural bases underlying advanced honeybee brain functions, we and other groups have searched for genes expressed in a brain area-preferential manner. So far, each KC subtype has been found to have a unique gene expression profile in the honeybee brain, suggesting their unique cell characteristics (e.g., [20C22], for review, observe [23, 24]). The SAPKK3 role of each KC subtype in honeybee interpersonal behaviors, however, is not well comprehended. We recently recognized a novel KC subtype that we termed middle-type KCs (mKCs), which are characterized by the preferential expression of a gene termed (was originally recognized during the screening of genes whose expressions are more enriched in the OLs than in the other regions in.