Abstract
In order to study the relationship between the queen differentiation and nucleotides, acid-soluble nucleotides of royal jelly, which was taken from queen cells at different stages, and worker jelly of honey bee, Apis mellifera L. were analysed by Dowex-1 (formate form) ion exchange column chromatography. The fractions, separated by this procedure, were identified with paper chromatography, paper electrophoresis and chemical analysis. The differences were not found in quality but in quantity of each sample. The rate of base composition of total nucleotides was approximately same in each sample, about 50 per cent adenosine, 30 per cent uridine, 5 to 7 per cent guanosine and small amount of cytidine nucleotides. The total contents of nucleotides were found to be highest in 48 EJ. UDP and UDP-sugar type nucleotides were found in large amount in royal jelly which was taken from early stage of queen cells.
