# Royal Jelly and Worker Jelly



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Since all royal jelly comes from glands on nurse bee's 'head', I suspect that RJ is more or less uniform as produced by those glands.

However, royal jelly can be mixed with other ingredients by the bees once removed from those glands. See this paper ...
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-015-0374-x


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## bonykj (Oct 20, 2016)

Thank you very much for the report. It looks like the old bloke was right. The worker larvae is the result of forced starvation for the first few days of their larval life. 

The research was based on one day old larvae. Further research may required to find out the first few hours of chemical composition of royal jelly as every breeders are focusing on first few hours of larvae treatment of nurse bees.


The quote from the research paper:
"It has long been believed that caste determination in honey bees is driven by the quantity and quality of brood food (Shuel and Dixon 1960).Although previous research has shown that RJ and WJ differ in some nutrients, this study showed a more significant difference in chemical composition between RJ and WJ."

"As Kamakura (2011) found that a single protein in royal jelly could induce queen differentiation, the royalactin content in RJ and WJ may also differ. This study provides compelling evidence that queen larvae are fed significantly higher amounts
of 10-HDA than are worker larvae. The 10-HDA content in WJ was no more than 2 % during the first 4 days, and this declined to the lowest level at 5d. Although the proportion of 10-HDA in RJ also showed a downward trend, the 10-HDA content remained at high levels.Kamakura noted that royal jelly lost its effectiveness after storage and isolated a protein, called royalactin, that was as effective as royal jelly in promoting the phenotypic changes associated with development of the queen—shortened developmental time, increased size of the adult, and increased ovary size."


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## JTGaraas (Jun 7, 2014)

Not sure it is important since an egg does not get fed either Royal jelly or anything else, but I believe it takes three (3) days to hatch - not 4.5 days (108) hours as reported by the old bloke.


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## greengage (Jul 6, 2015)

Larval food
There are three main components
White , produced by the mandibular glands
It contains large amounts of biopterin and pantothenic acid
Biopterin stimulates cell growth by increasing cell division
Pantothenic acid is a B vitamin and may be essential for rapid growth
Clear, containing secretions from the hypopharyngeal gland a small amount of the crop contents
Yellow, derived from pollen
They have a few things in common
1. They are high in protein. The main proteins present are Major Royal Jelly proteins (MRJP)
2. The MRJP contain a high proportion of the essential amino acids. 
There are 10 essential amino acids that the bee must have in her diet.
Some of these proteins have antibacterial properties
3. Main lipid present is 10-hydroxy-2 -decanoic acid (10 HDA)
This is produced by the mandibular glands
This has antibiotic activity against many microorganisms
Royal jelly is fed to the queens exclusively in the larval and adult stage
Royal jelly contains more pantothenic acid, biopterin and neopterin than brood food
Queen larvae are fed for 5 days (=entire larval stage, uncapped) exclusively on royal jelly, a secretion in equal amounts from the hypopharyngeal glands (clear liquid protein) and the mandibular glands (white secretion 
Curiously, no one has succeeded in rearing, in the laboratory, a queen fed exclusively on royal jelly; they all turn out to be workers. Some other substances must be present (fugitive substance).
Queens are mass provisioned with royal jelly during the whole of their 5 day larval life. 
Workers are mass provisioned for 3 days with brood food and then fed by progressive provisioning on brood food plus pollen and honey for the last two days.
Wetherill analysed royal jelly in 1852 to try and find the “fugitive substance” that is responsible for queen worker differentiation. LL Langstroth supplied the samples
Brood food is fed to worker larva and drones.It has been found that the sugar content of the larval food is very variable between the two castes as follows:
In queen larval food – 34% sugars – 1 to 4 days old.
In worker larval food – 12% sugars – 1 to 2½ days old.
In worker larval food – 47% sugars – 3 to 4 days old (note addition of honey at this stage).

Larval food also comprises secretions from the mandibular glands (white), the hypopharyngeal glands (clear) and (yellow) derived from pollen. It varies in proportions depending on age and caste as follows:
First 3 days for queen – mostly white food.
Last two days for queen – ratio of white to clear 1 : 1.
Average for worker – white : clear : yellow in the ratio of 2 : 9 : 3.
The worker has about half the quantity of sugar of a queen up to 3 days old, the latest that a female larva can become a queen. The additional sugars act as phago stimulants creating an increase in food intake.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

That is what was thought for many years. But actually in 2015 we found out it's what the queen does NOT get fed that causes her to become a queen. 

https://www.wired.com/2015/09/royal-jelly-isnt-makes-queen-bee-queen-bee/

A lack of p-coumaric acid causes the queen to become a queen. An abundance of p-coumaric acid causes a worker to become a worker. The workers are not deprived of anything that the queen gets. They get all of the same things she gets PLUS some other things.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The study:
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/7/e1500795


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Michael Bush said:


> That is what was thought for many years. But actually in 2015 we found out it's what the queen does NOT get fed that causes her to become a queen.
> 
> https://www.wired.com/2015/09/royal-jelly-isnt-makes-queen-bee-queen-bee/
> 
> A lack of p-coumaric acid causes the queen to become a queen. An abundance of p-coumaric acid causes a worker to become a worker. The workers are not deprived of anything that the queen gets. They get all of the same things she gets PLUS some other things.


I wonder if it is the same agent that suppresses LWs? The effect gene on expression in an adult bee may bee quite different than on a larva though. 
I doubt it is the sole agent. Can't get my head around how a colony does not go LW each winter if worker brood is the sole suppressor.


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## bonykj (Oct 20, 2016)

Is there any new book (after Mark L Winston - Biology of Honey bee) for the further development of biology of bees ?


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## bonykj (Oct 20, 2016)

"Curiously, no one has succeeded in rearing, in the laboratory, a queen fed exclusively on royal jelly; they all turn out to be workers. Some other substances must be present (fugitive substance)."

Time to time the research reports published for the queen food.If all these substance are involved in queen rearing, why don't the researchers are not producing queen bees in the lab. Hopefully one day they will crack it.

Just like Jay Smith did , replicated the nature with minimal effort produced best queens and was one of the great beekeepers of all time.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I wonder if it is the same agent that suppresses LWs?

It's Juvenile hormone in the worker larvae that suppresses laying workers.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

"In this study, tremendous variations in chemical composition were observed between RJ and WJ samples. We still know very little about the role of these nutrients in honey bee caste determination. Therefore, much still remains to be explored of the relationship between nutritional effects and polyphenism in honey bees." ( from Rader's 32 post) Would lead me to suspect different squads of nurse bees tend different classes of workers. There may be an aging factor in the nurse bees that influences the mix. True, the variation may come from multiple bee but that strikes me as rather complex.

Juvenile hormone does not account for lack of LW in winter bees. While worker brood may be the primary agent in suppression I doubt it is the totality. 

From MB's link the lack p-coumaric acid is a primary controller of gene expression as queens develop, it may have an entirely different or no impact on adult workers. That was the point of my question. Simply batting ideas around in my head. Plenty of space in there.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

At the risk of sounding like an Oak Island writer; "Could this rusty nail be proof that the Knights Templar buried treasure here centuries ago? " 

If p-coumaric acid inhibits queen development maybe superceder and swarm cells are raised away from the bulk
worker brood? Not just to hide from the queen but to reduce contamination?

Implications for removing most brood from walkaways?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Juvenile hormone does not account for lack of LW in winter bees. While worker brood may be the primary agent in suppression I doubt it is the totality. 

Agreed. Obviously whatever shuts the queen down for winter also prevents laying workers in winter and possibly some other factors as well. Queen pheromones may also play a part, but they not the deciding factor.


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