Project description:The Varroa mite represents the main threat of honey bees (Apis mellifera). Bees from some colonies can limit the proliferation of this parasite by detecting and removing parasitized brood, such behavior is defined as Varroa sensitive Hygiene (VSH). This is an important issue for selecting colonies that can survive Varroa outbreaks. We therefore study the molecular meachnisms underlying this behavior by comparing the antennae transcriptomic profile of VSH and non-VSH bees. Those profiles were further compared to to the profiles of nurses and forager profiles involved in brood care and food collection, respectively.
Project description:Coumaphos is an acaricide that is widely used to control Varroa mites in bee colonies. However, the extensive use of coumaphos against Varroa has resulted in the development of coumaphos resistant Varroa populations. In this study, the whole genome gene expression profile of 1) a coumaphos resistant V. destructor population (AN-CR) or 2) a coumaphos resistant V. destructor population pretreated with coumaphos (tAN-CR), was compared to the gene expression profile of a susceptible V. destructor population (ATH-S) using Illumina RNAseq.
