Project description:This dataset represents RNA-Seq data that was later found to have widespread contamination with Deformed Wing virus (DWV). It has been incorporated in a meta-analysis of DWV's impact on brain gene expression
Project description:This dataset represents RNA-Seq data that was later found to have widespread contamination with Deformed Wing virus (DWV). It has been incorporated in a meta-analysis of DWV's impact on brain gene expression
Project description:Plant pollination by the western honey bee Apis mellifera is an irreplaceable agroecological and economic cornerstone currently under threat. Recent colony loss has been consistently linked to the increased prevalence of deformed wing virus (DWV), an Iflavirus transmitted from the ecoparasitic mite Varros destructor. While DWV has been detected in the honey bee brain and causally linked to behavioral impairment, the molecular impact of infection on brain gene expression is largely unknown. Recently, we discovered that two published and two new brain transcriptomic studies conducted in our lab contained DWV contamination in over 99% of sequenced honey bee samples. This unanticipated finding sharply contrasted with the experimental paradigms of these four studies, as no physical or behavioral signs of DWV were detected in any of the 335 individual honey bees sampled. We took this opportunity to perform a meta-analysis and test the hypothesis that DWV influences brain gene expression, a relationship which could be linked to the massive depopulation events observed around the world. Results from our study support commonalities in the molecular consequences of DWV in the honey bee brain and implicate specific genes and biological processes associated with infection. Next, we used single-cell RNA-Sequencing to implicate glia as active responders to viral infection. Finally, we performed viral gene expression analysis on a subset of samples and found DWV type A as well as a previously unreported A-B recombinant in the brain. We present this meta-analysis as a first step toward addressing a potential missing link between viral infection and behavior in honey bees.
Project description:Bees from 3 unrelated colonies were injected with 1ul PBS extract containing 10^9 genome equivalent of Deformed wIng virus (DWV) and/or fed 10µl sucrose solution containing 10^5 fresh Nosema ceranae spores. Control bees were injected and fed with an equivalent DWV- and Nosema-free extract respectively). Bees were kept in cages of 21 bees (7 from each colony), and each cage was replicated 5 times per each of the 4 treatments). Bess were kept in an incubator at 30°C/50%RH. At day 12 p.i., bees were flash frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at -80°C. Bee abdomen RNA was sent to Christina Grozinger lab (Penn State, USA). RNA was pooled for 3 abdomens per replicate for 5 replicates per treatment. Arrays were hybridized in a dye-swap loop design.
