scholarly journals Transcriptional Control of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Major Royal Jelly Proteins by 20-Hydroxyecdysone

Insects ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Winkler ◽  
Frank Sieg ◽  
Anja Buttstedt
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Transcriptional Control ◽  
Royal Jelly ◽  
Adult Worker ◽  
Gene Expression Dynamics

One of the first tasks of worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) during their lifetime is to feed the larval offspring. In brief, young workers (nurse bees) secrete a special food jelly that contains a large amount of unique major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs). The regulation of mrjp gene expression is not well understood, but the large upregulation in well-fed nurse bees suggests a tight repression until, or a massive induction upon, hatching of the adult worker bees. The lipoprotein vitellogenin, the synthesis of which is regulated by the two systemic hormones 20-hydroxyecdysone and juvenile hormone, is thought to be a precursor for the production of MRJPs. Thus, the regulation of mrjp expression by the said systemic hormones is likely. This study focusses on the role of 20-hydroxyecdysone by elucidating its effect on mrjp gene expression dynamics. Specifically, we tested whether 20-hydroxyecdysone displayed differential effects on various mrjps. We found that the expression of the mrjps (mrjp1–3) that were finally secreted in large amounts into the food jelly, in particular, were down regulated by 20-hydroxyecdysone treatment, with mrjp3 showing the highest repression value.

THE ROLE OF NUTRITION AND TEMPERATURE IN THE OVARIAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORKER HONEY BEE (APIS MELLIFERA)

1998 ◽  
Vol 130 (6) ◽  
pp. 883-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huarong Lin ◽  
Mark L. Winston
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Nutritive Value ◽  
Royal Jelly ◽  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Brood Chamber ◽  
Laying Workers

AbstractQueenless, caged, newly emerged worker bees (Apis mellifera L.) were fed honey, 22 and 40% pollen in honey, and 22 and 40% royal jelly in honey for 14 days. Workers fed royal jelly, pollen, and honey had large, medium, and small ovaries, respectively. Royal jelly had higher nutritive value for workers’ ovarian development than did pollen, possibly because royal jelly is predigested by nurse bees and easily used by adult and larval bees. These results suggest that nurse bees could mediate workers’ ovarian development in colonies via trophallactic exchange of royal jelly. Six levels of royal jelly in honey, 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% (royal jelly without honey), were tested for their effects on workers’ ovarian development and mortality for 10 days. High levels of royal jelly increased ovarian development, but also increased worker mortality. All caged bees treated with 100% royal jelly died within 3 days. When workers were incubated at 20, 27, and 34 °C for 10 days, only bees at 34 °C developed ovaries. These findings suggest that nurse bees functioning as units which digest pollen and produce royal jelly may feed some potentially egg-laying workers in a brood chamber with royal jelly when a queen is lost in a colony. Feeding workers a diet of 50% royal jelly in honey and incubating at 34 °C for 10 days is recommended for tests of ovarian development.

scholarly journals Honey Bee Viruses, Colony Health, and Antiviral Defense

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Katie F. Daughenbaugh ◽  
Alex J. McMenamin ◽  
Laura M. Brutscher ◽  
Fenali Parekh ◽  
Michelle L. Flenniken
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Heat Shock ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Antiviral Defense ◽  
Deformed Wing Virus ◽  
Antiviral Responses ◽  
Model Virus ◽  
Virus Abundance

Honey bee colony losses are influenced by multiple abiotic and biotic factors, including viruses. To investigate the effects of RNA viruses on honey bees, we infected bees with a model virus (Sindbis-GFP) in the presence or absence of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). In honey bees, dsRNA is the substrate for sequence-specific RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated antiviral defense and is a trigger of sequence-independent\antiviral responses. Transcriptome sequencing identified more than 200 differentially expressed genes, including genes in the RNAi, Toll, Imd, JAK-STAT, and heat shock response pathways, and many uncharacterized genes. To confirm the virus limiting role of two genes (i.e., dicer and mf116383) in honey bees, we utilized RNAi to reduce their expression in vivo and determined that the virus abundance increased. To evaluate the role of the heat shock stress response in antiviral defense, bees were heat stressed post-virus infection and the virus abundance and gene expression were assessed. Heat-stressed bees had reduced virus levels and a greater expression of several heat shock protein encoding genes (hsps) compared to the controls. To determine if these genes are universally associated with antiviral defense, bees were infected with another model virus, Flock House virus (FHV), or deformed wing virus and the gene expression was assessed. The expression of dicer was greater in bees infected with either FHV or Sindbis-GFP compared to the mock-infected bees, but not in the deformed wing virus-infected bees. To further investigate honey bee antiviral defense mechanisms and elucidate the function of key genes (dicer, ago-2, mf116383, and hsps) at the cellular level, primary honey bee larval hemocytes were transfected with dsRNA or infected with the Lake Sinai virus 2 (LSV2). These studies indicate that mf116383 and hsps mediate dsRNA detection and that MF116383 is involved in limiting LSV2 infection. Together, these results further our understanding of honey bee antiviral defense, particularly dsRNA-mediated antiviral responses, at both the individual bee and cellular levels.

scholarly journals Silencing the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Naked Cuticle Gene (nkd) Improves Host Immune Function and Reduces Nosema ceranae Infections

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (22) ◽  
pp. 6779-6787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfeng Li ◽  
Jay D. Evans ◽  
Qiang Huang ◽  
Cristina Rodríguez-García ◽  
Jie Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Immune Function ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Nosema Ceranae ◽  
Negative Regulator ◽  
Mrna Levels ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Bee Disease

ABSTRACTNosema ceranaeis a new and emerging microsporidian parasite of European honey bees,Apis mellifera, that has been implicated in colony losses worldwide. RNA interference (RNAi), a posttranscriptional gene silencing mechanism, has emerged as a potent and specific strategy for controlling infections of parasites and pathogens in honey bees. While previous studies have focused on the silencing of parasite/pathogen virulence factors, we explore here the possibility of silencing a host factor as a mechanism for reducing parasite load. Specifically, we used an RNAi strategy to reduce the expression of a honey bee gene,naked cuticle(nkd), which is a negative regulator of host immune function. Our studies found thatnkdmRNA levels in adult bees were upregulated byN. ceranaeinfection (and thus, the parasite may use this mechanism to suppress host immune function) and that ingestion of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) specific tonkdefficiently silenced its expression. Furthermore, we found that RNAi-mediated knockdown ofnkdtranscripts inNosema-infected bees resulted in upregulation of the expression of several immune genes (Abaecin,Apidaecin,Defensin-1, andPGRP-S2), reduction ofNosemaspore loads, and extension of honey bee life span. The results of our studies clearly indicate that silencing the hostnkdgene can activate honey bee immune responses, suppress the reproduction ofN. ceranae, and improve the overall health of honey bees. This study represents a novel host-derived therapeutic for honey bee disease treatment that merits further exploration.IMPORTANCEGiven the critical role of honey bees in the pollination of agricultural crops, it is urgent to develop strategies to prevent the colony decline induced by the infection of parasites/pathogens. Targeting parasites and pathogens directly by RNAi has been proven to be useful for controlling infections in honey bees, but little is known about the disease impacts of RNAi silencing of host factors. Here, we demonstrate that knocking down the honey bee immune repressor-encodingnkdgene can suppress the reproduction ofN. ceranaeand improve the overall health of honey bees, which highlights the potential role of host-derived and RNAi-based therapeutics in controlling the infections in honey bees. The information obtained from this study will have positive implications for honey bee disease management practices.

scholarly journals Juvenile Hormone Biosynthesis Gene Expression in the corpora allata of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) Female Castes

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e86923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Durvalina Bomtorin ◽  
Aline Mackert ◽  
Gustavo Conrado Couto Rosa ◽  
Livia Maria Moda ◽  
Juliana Ramos Martins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Corpora Allata ◽  
Juvenile Hormone Biosynthesis ◽  
Biosynthesis Gene ◽  
Hormone Biosynthesis

Comparison of juvenile hormone and ecdysteroid haemolymph titres in adult worker and queen honey bees (Apis mellifera)

1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 929-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gene E. Robinson ◽  
Colette Strambi ◽  
Alain Strambi ◽  
Mark F. Feldlaufer
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Adult Worker

INFLUENCE OF AGE AND POPULATION SIZE ON OVARIAN DEVELOPMENT, AND OF TROPHALLAXIS ON OVARIAN DEVELOPMENT AND VITELLOGENIN TITRES OF QUEENLESS WORKER HONEY BEE (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE)

1999 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
pp. 695-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huarong Lin ◽  
Mark L. Winston ◽  
Norbert H. Haunerland ◽  
Keith N. Slessor
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Royal Jelly ◽  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Ovary Development ◽  
Dominance Status ◽  
Access To Food

AbstractWe examined the factors that might influence ovary development in worker honey bees, Apis mellifera L. Queenless workers at different ages (≤ 12 h, and 4, 8, and 21 d) were tested in cages for ovarian development. Newly emerged, 4- and 8-d-old, and 21-d-old workers had medium-, large-, and small-sized ovaries, respectively, suggesting that of the worker ages tested only 4- and 8-d-old workers are likely to become egg layers in a queenless colony. Also, we compared ovarian development of newly emerged workers that were caged for 14 d and allowed to consume either pollen or royal jelly to that of another group of workers similarly caged but screened so that they could only obtain food via trophallaxis from young bees. Ovaries of newly emerged workers that received food from young bees were as well developed as those of newly emerged workers allowed to take pollen or royal jelly directly. Screened workers also had lower but still elevated vitellogenin levels compared with bees having direct access to food. These results indicate that nurse-age bees functioning as pollen-digesting units affect the ovarian development of other workers and to a lesser extent vitellogenesis via food exchange. We compared the influence of group sizes of 25, 125, and 600 bees per cage on ovarian development for 14 d. The two groups of 25 and 125 bees had similar mean ovary scores, and higher scores than a group of 600 bees. Our findings suggest that nurse-age bees could play an important role in mediating worker fertility via trophallaxis, possibly by differentiating worker dominance status, and generally only young workers become fertile when a queen is lost in a colony. Vitellogenin is a more sensitive parameter to measure bee fertility, and might be a useful tool to further explore ovary development and egg laying in worker social insects. We recommend measuring haemolymph vitellogenin titres and (or) oocyte length of workers in a group of 25 bees per cage, supplied with 50% royal jelly in honey as a standard method to assess honey bee worker fertility in future experiments.

scholarly journals Nosema Ceranae DNA in Honey Bee Haemolymph and Honey Bee Mite Varroa Destructor/DNK Nosema Ceranae U Hemolimfi Pčela I Pčelinjem Krpelju Varroa Destructor

2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glavinić Uroš ◽  
Stevanović Jevrosima ◽  
Gajić Bojan ◽  
Simeunović Predrag ◽  
Đurić Spomenka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Varroa Destructor ◽  
Dna Isolation ◽  
Nosema Ceranae ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
Mite Feeding

Abstract Honey bee mite Varroa destructor and microsporidium Nosema ceranae are currently considered the most important threats to honey bees and beekeeping. It has been believed that both N. apis and N. ceranae invade exclusively epithelial cells of the honey bee ventriculus. However, some fi ndings suggest that these microsporidia may infect other tissues of honey bees. There are indications that these pathogens could be found in honey bee haemolymph, as the medium for its distribution to anatomically distant tissues. Knowing that V. destructor being an ectoparasitic mite feeds on the honey bee’s haemolymph, the aim of this study was to investigate if DNA of Nosema spp. microsporidia could be found in honey bee haemolymph and in V. destructor. The study was conducted on bee haemolymph and V. destructor mites from 44 Apis mellifera colonies. From each hive five mite individuals and 10 μL of haemolymph (from 4-5 bees) were used as samples for DNA isolation and PCR detection of Nosema spp. The DNA of N. ceranae was confi rmed in 61.36% of V. destructor mites and 68.18% of haemolymph samples. This is the first report of N. ceranae DNA in honey bee haemolymph and in V. destructor mites. The finding of DNA of N. ceranae in V. destructor could be interpreted as the result of mite feeding on N. ceranae infected bee haemolymph. However, for a full confi rmation of the vector role of V. destructor in spreading of nosemosis, further microscopy investigations are required for the detection of spores in both investigated matrices (haemolymph and V. destructor internal tissues).

Precocene II is no Anti-Juvenile Hormone in the Honey Bee, Apis mellifera

1979 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 1261-1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Rembold ◽  
Christian Czoppelt ◽  
Gireesh K. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Weight Gain ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Royal Jelly ◽  
Treatment Control ◽  
Larval Weight ◽  
Precocene Ii

The effect of precocene II on development of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, was studied in vitro. One- to two-day-old worker larvae (body weight 0.5 - 1.0 mg) were removed from the colonies, reared on royal jelly-yeast extract, and after 24 h were topically applied with different amounts (5 - 75 μg/larva) of precocene II. Toxicity was observed only with precocene doses of 50 μg/larva and more. The larval weight-gains declined with the increase of doses. The acetone-treated control had better survival and weight-gain as compared to the no-treatment control. The larval and pu­pal periods in the treated larvae remained unchanged as compared to the controls. The possibility of precocene acting as an antifeedant is discussed.

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