Protein Traffic Between Body Compartments of the Female Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera L.)

Abstract

Protein transport between the blood and (1) the exocrine glands and (2) internal organs of the worker honey bee was studied. Immunological and electrophoretic methods did not reveal any immunological identity between the proteins in larval food, venom and blood; however, most of the blood antigens were the same as those in the ovaries and fat body. A tentative model is proposed for protein transport. It is based on the suggestion that some compartments, such as 1 (venom gland, head glands), are enveloped in a cellular layer which prevents macromolecular transport from the blood, but some internal organs (ovaries, fat body) are lined with a cellular layer which allows such transport.