Fig. 4: Identification of compounds stimulating ovarian activity in alpha queenless workers in dyadic assays.
a Schematic diagram of separation of CHCs and non-CHCs extracted from filter paper using column chromatography. b Average TOS of workers exposed to non-CHCs (n = 10), CHCs (n = 12) and pentane (n = 12). c Representative traces of GC-MS/MS of alkanes and alkenes in the filter paper extracts of single workers separated using AgNO₃-silica gel chromatography. d Average TOS of workers exposed to alkanes (n = 10) and alkenes (n = 13) and pentane (n = 12). e Venn diagram of alkenes in cuticular extracts of honeybee and bumble bee workers. f GC-EAD responses of bumble bee workers to eight alkenes in two synthetic blends (n = 17 for both blends). g Average TOS of α-workers exposed to a blend of eight synthetic alkenes (n = 12) and that of three synthetic alkenes (n = 13) and pentane (n = 20). h Average TOS of workers exposed to: Z9-C23 (n = 8, pentane: n = 7); Z7- C27 (n = 15, pentane: n = 13), Z7-C29 (n = 10, pentane: n = 9), Z9-C29 (n = 13, pentane: n = 11), Z9- C31 (n = 12, pentane: n = 12). i Average TOS of workers exposed to a blend of Z9-C29 and Z9- C31 at three different doses (n = 25, 10, 7, 13 for pentane, 0.026 mg/cm3, 0.051 mg/cm3 and 0.103 mg/cm3, respectively). Data are shown as mean ± SEM. Data in (b−g) were analyzed by two-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc test (two-tailed). Data in (f) was analyzed by Friedman test with Dunn’s post-hoc analysis (two-tailed). Data in (h) was analyzed using unpaired t-test (two-tailed). In (i), TOS of worker α was compared by one-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc test (two-tailed) while TOS of worker β were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis (two-tailed) with Dunn’s post-hoc analysis. Detailed statistical results and adjusted P-values for multiple comparison were shown in Supplementary Data 1. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
