Mediating a host cell signaling pathway linked to the overwinter mortality offers a promising therapeutic approach for improving bee health
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ABSTRACT: Overwintering mortality is the greatest threat to the supply of healthy bee colonies available for pollination of spring-blooming crops, but efforts to mitigate colony losses are hindered because underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the present study, we identified that sirtuin signaling pathway is the most significantly affected pathway in collapsing overwintering colonies that carried a high prevalence of pathogens and is a convergent signaling hub that links mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolism alterations. We showed that the expression of SIRT1, a major sirtuin regulating energy and immune metabolism, was significantly downregulated in diseased overwintering bees and bees exposed to cold challenge alone. We demonstrated that activation of SIRT1 expression by SRT1720, a SIRT1 activator, could result in increased robustness and lifespan extension of cold-stressed bees. The novel information gained from this study provides a promising avenue for the development of therapeutic strategies for mitigating colony losses, both overwinter and annually.
ORGANISM(S): Apis mellifera
PROVIDER: GSE196998 | GEO | 2022/12/29
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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