Honeybees control the gas permeability of brood and honey cappings

0564895 - BC 2023 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Kubásek, J. - Svobodová, K. - Půta, F. - Bruce Krejčí, Alena
Honeybees control the gas permeability of brood and honey cappings.
iScience. Roč. 25, č. 11 (2022), č. článku 105445. E-ISSN 2589-0042
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : honey bee * capping * gas permeability
OECD category: Developmental biology
Impact factor: 5.8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222017175/pdfft?md5=02afed13a07906e4a88da31698b66fe4&pid=1-s2.0-S2589004222017175-main.pdf

Some bee species use wax to build their nests. They store honey and raise their brood in cells made entirely from wax. How can the bee brood breathe and develop properly when sealed in wax cells? We compared the chemical composition and structural properties of the honey cappings and worker brood cappings of the honeybee Apis mellifera carnica, measured the worker brood respiration, and calculated the CO2 gradients across the two types of cappings. We identified microscopic pores present in the brood cappings that allow efficient gas exchange of the developing brood. In contrary, honey cappings are nearly gas impermeable to protect honey from fermenting. Similar principles apply in bumble bees. Our data suggest the control of gas exchange of cappings as a selective pressure in the evolution of wax-building bees that drives their adaptation for using wax in two highly contrasting biological contexts.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0339198