ARS scientists are unraveling a biochemical communication pathway that enables plants to cope quickly with drought, heat, cold, pests and other environmental stresses. ARS scientists discovered and cloned two genes for an enzyme that seems to trigger a stress signal. In plants under stress, this enzyme produces GABA, for gamma-aminobutyric acid, within minutes. When stress starts to decrease, so does the GABA level. Scientists are interested in the compound, called eicosenol, because it may be an important ingredient in an alarm pheromone.
Bees use alarm pheromones to signal other bees to attack intruders.
Until now, pheromones had never been found in bee venom. Other honey bee species apparently store their pheromones in spongelike tissue at the base of their stingers. ARS scientists collaborated with British and Brazilian researchers to analyze more than 300 Asian hive bees from Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, India and Japan. They found that the honey-making Asian hive bee has 50 to 100 times more of the pheromone component than other bees studied so far. Scientists still are not certain how the A. cerana uses the chemical but suggest the bee might tag potential intruders, thus alerting hivemates.