scholarly journals Honey bee queens are vulnerable to heat-induced loss of fertility

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison McAfee ◽  
Abigail Chapman ◽  
Heather Higo ◽  
Robyn Underwood ◽  
Joseph Milone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Heat Shock ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Sperm Cells ◽  
Sperm Viability ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Honey Bee Queens ◽  
Globally Distributed ◽  
Protein Fingerprint

AbstractAll species need to reproduce to maintain viable populations, but heat stress kills sperm cells across the animal kingdom and rising frequencies of heatwaves are a threat to biodiversity. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are globally distributed micro-livestock; therefore, they could serve as environmental biomonitors for fertility losses. Here, we found that queens have two potential routes of temperaturestress exposure: within colonies and during routine shipping. Our data suggest that temperatures of 15 to 38°C are safe for queens at a tolerance threshold of 11.5% loss of sperm viability, which is the viability difference associated with queen failure in the field. Heat shock activates expression of specific stressresponse proteins in the spermatheca, which could serve as molecular biomarkers (indicators) for heat stress. This protein fingerprint may eventually enable surveys for the prevalence of heat-induced loss of sperm viability in diverse landscapes as part of a biomonitoring program.

scholarly journals Varicocele × heat stress: Expression of the heat shock protein 70–2 (HSP70–2) in the sperm cells

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. S181
Author(s):  
S. Lima ◽  
A. Cedenho ◽  
P. Hassun ◽  
R. Bertolla ◽  
S. Oehninger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Heat Shock ◽  
Heat Shock Protein ◽  
Heat Shock Protein 70 ◽  
Sperm Cells

scholarly journals Sperm viability and gene expression in honey bee queens (Apis mellifera) following exposure to the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid and the organophosphate acaricide coumaphos

2016 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veeranan Chaimanee ◽  
Jay D. Evans ◽  
Yanping Chen ◽  
Caitlin Jackson ◽  
Jeffery S. Pettis
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Sperm Viability ◽  
Neonicotinoid Insecticide ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

scholarly journals HRM Analysis of Spermathecal Contents to Determine the Origin of Drones that Inseminated Honey Bee Queens

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasin Kahya
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
High Resolution Melting ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Cytb Gene ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Specific Primer ◽  
Hrm Analysis ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

AbstractEurope, Africa and the Middle East have several original subspecies of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.), each with distinctive characteristics. These subspecies are the product of natural selection in their native range. Nevertheless, anthropogenic impacts such as migratory beekeeping and use of non-native queens result in an admixture of these subspecies and their ecotypes. I aimed to develop a SNP-based method to detect whether queen honey bees were mated with drones from foreign subspecies. For this purpose, Caucasian and Italian queens and drones were reared. Each queen was instrumentally inseminated with mixed semen collected from Caucasian (4 μl) and Italian drones (4 μl). The spermathecae of queens were dissected out after the onset of oviposition. The DNA was extracted from each spermatheca and from the thoraces of Caucasian and Italian drones. Seven regions on mtDNA that were isolated from drones were sequenced to determine the SNPs, enabling the discrimination of Caucasian sperm from Italian in spermathecal contents. Based on one SNP (11606. bp, T/C) residing on the Cytb gene, a specific primer was designed to be used in High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis. HRM analysis indicated that heteroduplex peak profiles were present in all spermathecal contents of instrumentally inseminated queens. The results provide proof of the concept that the presence of likely non-native mitochondrial lineages can be detected by HRM analysis based on the SNP genotyping of spermathecal contents.

Developmental stability, age at onset of foraging and longevity of Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) under heat stress (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 214-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén G. Medina ◽  
Robert J. Paxton ◽  
Efraín De Luna ◽  
Fernando A. Fleites-Ayil ◽  
Luis A. Medina Medina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Age At Onset ◽  
Developmental Stability ◽  
Africanized Honey Bees

scholarly journals The Heat Shock Response in the Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) is Antiviral

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. McMenamin ◽  
Katie F. Daughenbaugh ◽  
Michelle L. Flenniken
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Heat Shock ◽  
Heat Shock Protein ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Heat Shock Response ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Immune Gene ◽  
Protein Encoding ◽  
Shock Response

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are an agriculturally important pollinator species that live in easily managed social groups (i.e., colonies). Unfortunately, annual losses of honey bee colonies in many parts of the world have reached unsustainable levels. Multiple abiotic and biotic stressors, including viruses, are associated with individual honey bee and colony mortality. Honey bees have evolved several antiviral defense mechanisms including conserved immune pathways (e.g., Toll, Imd, JAK/STAT) and dsRNA-triggered responses including RNA interference and a non-sequence specific dsRNA-mediated response. In addition, transcriptome analyses of virus-infected honey bees implicate an antiviral role of stress response pathways, including the heat shock response. Herein, we demonstrate that the heat shock response is antiviral in honey bees. Specifically, heat-shocked honey bees (i.e., 42 °C for 4 h) had reduced levels of the model virus, Sindbis-GFP, compared with bees maintained at a constant temperature. Virus-infection and/or heat shock resulted in differential expression of six heat shock protein encoding genes and three immune genes, many of which are positively correlated. The heat shock protein encoding and immune gene transcriptional responses observed in virus-infected bees were not completely recapitulated by administration of double stranded RNA (dsRNA), a virus-associated molecular pattern, indicating that additional virus–host interactions are involved in triggering antiviral stress response pathways.

Heat stress induced enhancement of heat shock protein gene activity in the honey bee (Apis mellifera)

1990 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 737-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Severson ◽  
E. H. Erickson ◽  
J. L. Williamson ◽  
J. M. Aiken
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Heat Shock ◽  
Heat Shock Protein ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Protein Gene ◽  
Gene Activity ◽  
Heat Shock Protein Gene

scholarly journals The Behavioral Toxicity of Insect Growth Disruptors on Apis mellifera Queen Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza M. Litsey ◽  
Siwon Chung ◽  
Julia D. Fine
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Queen Pheromone ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Insect Growth ◽  
Hormone Analog ◽  
Colony Performance ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

As social insects, honey bees (Apis mellifera) rely on the coordinated performance of various behaviors to ensure that the needs of the colony are met. One of the most critical of these behaviors is the feeding and care of egg laying honey bee queens by non-fecund female worker attendants. These behaviors are crucial to honey bee reproduction and are known to be elicited by the queen’s pheromone blend. The degree to which workers respond to this blend can vary depending on their physiological status, but little is known regarding the impacts of developmental exposure to agrochemicals on this behavior. This work investigated how exposing workers during larval development to chronic sublethal doses of insect growth disruptors affected their development time, weight, longevity, and queen pheromone responsiveness as adult worker honey bees. Exposure to the juvenile hormone analog pyriproxyfen consistently shortened the duration of pupation, and pyriproxyfen and diflubenzuron inconsistently reduced the survivorship of adult bees. Finally, pyriproxyfen and methoxyfenozide treated bees were found to be less responsive to queen pheromone relative to other treatment groups. Here, we describe these results and discuss their possible physiological underpinnings as well as their potential impacts on honey bee reproduction and colony performance.

Heat stress during development affects immunocompetence in workers, queens and drones of Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 102541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén G. Medina ◽  
Robert J. Paxton ◽  
S.M. Teresa Hernández-Sotomayor ◽  
Cristina Pech-Jiménez ◽  
Luis A. Medina-Medina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Africanized Honey Bees

scholarly journals Trade-offs between sperm viability and immune protein expression in honey bee queens (Apis mellifera)

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison McAfee ◽  
Abigail Chapman ◽  
Jeffery S. Pettis ◽  
Leonard J. Foster ◽  
David R. Tarpy
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Sperm Count ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
Sperm Viability ◽  
Social Hymenoptera ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Immune Effector ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Honey Bee Queens

AbstractQueens of many social hymenoptera keep sperm alive within their specialized storage organ, the spermatheca, for years, defying the typical trade-off between lifespan and reproduction. However, whether honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens experience a trade-off between reproduction and immunity is unknown, and the biochemical processes underlying sperm viability are poorly understood. Here, we survey quality metrics and viral loads of honey bee queens from nine genetic sources. Queens rated as ‘failed’ by beekeepers had lower sperm viability, fewer sperm, and higher levels of sacbrood virus and black queen cell virus. Quantitative proteomics on N = 123 spermathecal fluid samples shows, after accounting for sperm count, health status, and apiary effects, five spermathecal fluid proteins significantly correlating with sperm viability: odorant binding protein (OBP)14, lysozyme, serpin 88Ea, artichoke, and heat-shock protein (HSP)10. The significant negative correlation of lysozyme—a conserved immune effector—with sperm viability is consistent with a reproduction vs. immunity trade-off in honey bee queens.

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