Figure 5.

Patterns of hexamerin gene expression in the fat body of immature and adult stages of workers, queens and drones. The simplified diagrams represent expression patterns based on hexamerin transcript abundance as detected by RT-PCR followed by electrophoresis of the amplified cDNA on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels using A. mellifera actin as a loading control (see Additional file 11). The thick, thin and dashed lines in the diagrams represent high, intermediary and low transcript levels, respectively. L5: 5th larval instar. L5F and L5S: feeding and spinning phases of the 5th larval instar. NE: newly emerged queens. EL: egg-laying queens. 3d, 6d, and 7d: adult age in days. Data previously published by our laboratory are indicated by the respective bibliographic reference.