An inhibitory signal associated with danger reduces honeybee dopamine levels

•Receiving an inhibitory stop signal can decrease bee head dopamine levels •Receiving a stop signal can therefore depress the hedonic value of food •Increasing dopamine decreased bee stop signaling and time spent in the hive •Increasing brain dopamine increased the time spent feeding and waggle dancing Positive and negative experiences can alter animal brain dopamine levels. 1 Barron A.B. Søvik E. Cornish J.L. The roles of dopamine and related compounds in reward-seeking behavior across animal phyla. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 2010; 4163 Crossref PubMed Scopus (116) Google Scholar When first arriving at a rewarding food source or beginning to waggle dance and recruit nestmates to food, honeybees have increased brain dopamine levels, indicating a desire for food. 2 Huang J. Zhang Z. Feng W. Zhao Y. Aldanondo A. de Brito Sanchez M.G. Paoli M. Rolland A. Li Z. Nie H. et al. Food wanting is mediated by transient activation of dopaminergic signaling in the honey bee brain. Science. 2022; 376: 508-512 Crossref PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar We provide the first evidence that an inhibitory signal, the stop signal, which counters waggle dancing and is triggered by negative events at the food source, can decrease head dopamine levels and dancing, independent of the dancer having any negative experiences. The hedonic value of food can therefore be depressed simply by the receipt of an inhibitory signal. Increasing the brain dopamine levels reduced the aversive effects of an attack, increasing the time that bees spent subsequently feeding and waggle dancing and decreasing their stop signaling and time spent in the hive. Because honeybees regulate food recruitment and its inhibition at the colony level, these results highlight the complex integration of colony information with a basic and highly conserved neural mechanism in mammals and insects. 2 Huang J. Zhang Z. Feng W. Zhao Y. Aldanondo A. de Brito Sanchez M.G. Paoli M. Rolland A. Li Z. Nie H. et al. Food wanting is mediated by transient activation of dopaminergic signaling in the honey bee brain. Science. 2022; 376: 508-512 Crossref PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar Video abstract eyJraWQiOiI4ZjUxYWNhY2IzYjhiNjNlNzFlYmIzYWFmYTU5NmZmYyIsImFsZyI6IlJTMjU2In0.eyJzdWIiOiI1M2E2M2U2NDU3NzM2YjhlNjEzZWQ4Y2I2OWIyOWRhNCIsImtpZCI6IjhmNTFhY2FjYjNiOGI2M2U3MWViYjNhYWZhNTk2ZmZjIiwiZXhwIjoxNjg2ODU0ODQ0fQ.LJLq8RlM585rYTnejOviQU3DinT-sZa5dNrR4srUGDfyboSMEnGCw2sr0c8PGVUb1LOqDKlorL9KN0Ce4ynR3dSMwKwfRRRrsfFvKOc_WMqr5QxLtXtuFxgAUBSZ6CJkyoUy_x-0fO70aNYvpwbhok6D7on2PCaFd5utHZvfI1Q5oAtD2h34QAMa7WTM2KnL4q05GgfFnk0KpLRWdAqv8Ya47VfK96UYDg4NhALNjOarPYD7kqI1kbwoPOqaezDznT9BJzhHkLLst8-Xlkyr64sMfWGXJDndPzzopuHa5imj8YxRvIrDDYilbck8O5LKKsA_9CIQ6HbnWjAWmxh4lQ (mp4, (12.73 MB) Download video Positive and negative experiences can alter animal brain dopamine levels. 1 Barron A.B. Søvik E. Cornish J.L. The roles of dopamine and related compounds in reward-seeking behavior across animal phyla. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 2010; 4163 Crossref PubMed Scopus (116) Google Scholar When first arriving at a rewarding food source or beginning to waggle dance and recruit nestmates to food, honeybees have increased brain dopamine levels, indicating a desire for food. 2 Huang J. Zhang Z. Feng W. Zhao Y. Aldanondo A. de Brito Sanchez M.G. Paoli M. Rolland A. Li Z. Nie H. et al. Food wanting is mediated by transient activation of dopaminergic signaling in the honey bee brain. Science. 2022; 376: 508-512 Crossref PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar We provide the first evidence that an inhibitory signal, the stop signal, which counters waggle dancing and is triggered by negative events at the food source, can decrease head dopamine levels and dancing, independent of the dancer having any negative experiences. The hedonic value of food can therefore be depressed simply by the receipt of an inhibitory signal. Increasing the brain dopamine levels reduced the aversive effects of an attack, increasing the time that bees spent subsequently feeding and waggle dancing and decreasing their stop signaling and time spent in the hive. Because honeybees regulate food recruitment and its inhibition at the colony level, these results highlight the complex integration of colony information with a basic and highly conserved neural mechanism in mammals and insects. 2 Huang J. Zhang Z. Feng W. Zhao Y. Aldanondo A. de Brito Sanchez M.G. Paoli M. Rolland A. Li Z. Nie H. et al. Food wanting is mediated by transient activation of dopaminergic signaling in the honey bee brain. Science. 2022; 376: 508-512 Crossref PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar