Nejvíce citovaný článek - PubMed ID 33288532
Winter honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations show greater potential to induce immune responses than summer populations after immune stimuli
The honey bee, Apis mellifera L., is one of the main pollinators worldwide. In a temperate climate, seasonality affects the life span, behavior, physiology, and immunity of honey bees. In consequence, it impacts their interaction with pathogens and parasites. In this study, we used Bayesian statistics and modeling to examine the immune response dynamics of summer and winter honey bee workers after injection with the heat-killed bacteria Serratia marcescens, an opportunistic honey bee pathogen. We investigated the humoral and cellular immune response at the transcriptional and functional levels using qPCR of selected immune genes, antimicrobial activity assay, and flow cytometric analysis of hemocyte concentration. Our data demonstrate increased antimicrobial activity at transcriptional and functional levels in summer and winter workers after injection, with a stronger immune response in winter bees. On the other hand, an increase in hemocyte concentration was observed only in the summer bee population. Our results indicate that the summer population mounts a cellular response when challenged with heat-killed S. marcescens, while winter honey bees predominantly rely on humoral immune reactions. We created a model describing the honey bee immune response dynamics to bacteria-derived components by applying Bayesian statistics to our data. This model can be employed in further research and facilitate the investigating of the honey bee immune system and its response to pathogens.
In temperate climates, honey bee workers of the species Apis mellifera have different lifespans depending on the seasonal phenotype: summer bees (short lifespan) and winter bees (long lifespan). Many studies have revealed the biochemical parameters involved in the lifespan differentiation of summer and winter bees. However, comprehensive information regarding the metabolic changes occurring in their bodies between the two is limited. This study used proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy to analyze the metabolic differences between summer and winter bees of the same age. The multivariate analysis showed that summer and winter bees could be distinguished based on their metabolic profiles. Among the 36 metabolites found, 28 metabolites have displayed significant changes from summer to winter bees. Compared to summer bees, trehalose in winter bees showed 1.9 times higher concentration, and all amino acids except for proline and alanine showed decreased patterns. We have also detected an unknown compound, with a CH3 singlet at 2.83 ppm, which is a potential biomarker that is about 13 times higher in summer bees. Our results show that the metabolites in summer and winter bees have distinctive characteristics; this information could provide new insights and support further studies on honey bee longevity and overwintering.
- Klíčová slova
- Apis mellifera, longevity, metabolome, nuclear magnetic resonance, winter bees,
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH