Mitochondrial capacity, oxidative damage and hypoxia gene expression are associated with age-related division of labor in honey bee, Apis mellifera L., workers

During adult life, honeybee workers undergo a succession of behavioral states. Nurses bees perform tasks inside the nest, and when they are about 2-3 weeks old they initiate foraging. This switch is associated with alterations in diet, and with the levels of juvenile hormone and vitellogenin circulating in hemolymph. Less clear is whether this behavioral maturation involves major changes at the cellular level, such as mitochondrial activity and...