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Extraction and Purification of ‘Queen Substance’ from Queen Bees

Nature volume 184, page 1871 (1959)Cite this article

Abstract

QUEEN honeybees (Apis mellifera) secrete material which, distributed through the colony, affects the bees in two ways, inhibiting the development of ovaries in workers and influencing their behaviour by inhibiting queen rearing (that is, queen-cell construction)1. Carlisle and Butler2 observed similarities between the ‘queen substance’ of honeybees in the form of an alcoholic extract and the ovary-inhibiting hormone of prawns (Leander serratus), and it is a justifiable extrapolation to suppose that this material has important physiological effects on animals of other phyla.

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References

  1. Butler, C. G., Trans. Roy. Ent. Soc. Lond., 105, 11 (1954); Proc. Roy. Ent. Soc. Lond., A, 31, 12 (1956); Experientia, 13, 256 (1957); Insectes sociaux, 4, 211 (1957).

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  2. Carlisle, D. B., and Butler, C. G., Nature, 177, 276 (1956).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bee Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts

    C. G. BUTLER

  2. National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, N.W.7

    R. K. CALLOW & NORAH C. JOHNSTON

Authors
  1. C. G. BUTLER
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  2. R. K. CALLOW
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  3. NORAH C. JOHNSTON
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BUTLER, C., CALLOW, R. & JOHNSTON, N. Extraction and Purification of ‘Queen Substance’ from Queen Bees. Nature 184, 1871 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/1841871a0

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