Project description:We studied the molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of pollen nutrients on honey bee (Apis mellifera) health and how those nutrients improve resistance to parasites. Using digital gene expression, we determined the changes in gene expression induced by pollen intake in worker bees parasitized or not by the mites Varroa destructor, known for suppressing immunity and decreasing lifespan of bees.
Project description:We studied the molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of pollen nutrients on honey bee (Apis mellifera) health and how those nutrients improve resistance to parasites. Using digital gene expression, we determined the changes in gene expression induced by pollen intake in worker bees parasitized or not by the mites Varroa destructor, known for suppressing immunity and decreasing lifespan of bees. bees with or without verroa, and fed or not fed pollen
Project description:Honey bees move through a series of in-hive tasks (“nursing”) to outside tasks (“foraging”) that coincident with an intense increase in metabolic activity. Social context can cause worker bees to speed up, or slow down this process and foragers may revert back to their earlier in hive tasks accompanied by reversion to earlier physiological states. To determine if the transcriptional profile of forager bees can revert, or if the effects of flight on gene expression are irreversible, we used whole-genome microarrays. Brain tissue and flight muscle exhibited independent patterns of expression during behavioral transitions, with patterns of expression in the brain reflecting both age and behavior, while flight muscle exhibited primarily age-related patterns of expression. Our data suggest that the transition from little to no flight (nurse) to intense flight (forager), rather than the amount of flight has a major effect on gene expression. Following behavioral reversion there was a partial reversion in gene expression but some aspects of forager expression patterns, such as those for genes involved in immune function, remained. These data suggest an epigenetic control and energy balance role in honey bee functional senescence.
Project description:Neonicotinoid insecticides have been implicated in honey bee declines, with many studies showing that sub-lethal exposure impacts bee behaviors such as foraging, learning and memory. Despite the large number of ecotoxicological studies carried out to date, most focus on a handful of worker phenotypes leading to a ‘streetlight effect’ where the a priori choice of phenotypes to measure may influence the results and conclusions arising from the studies. This bias can be overcome with the use of toxicological transcriptomics, where changes in gene expression can provide a more objective view of how pesticides alter animal physiology. Here, we used RNA sequencing to examine the changes in neurogenomic states of nurse and forager honey bees that were naturally exposed to neonicotinoids in the field and artificially exposed to neonicotinoid in a controlled experiment.
Project description:Scouts and non-scouts (recruits) were collected by using a novelty-seekingM-^] assay. Experiment was conducted in a large outdoor screened enclosure, which enabled us to exert complete control over the location and number of food resources while at the same time studying naturalistic honey bee foraging behavior. Foragers were first trained to a color-marked training feederM-^] that contained unscented 50% sucrose solution (m/v); this initially was the only food source available to them. After 2-3 days of training, a novel feederM-^] was set up in another location in the enclosure, with different color markings and an odor cue. The training feeder was maintained, providing the bees with two possible foraging locations, a familiar and a novel. Scouts were identified as bees that switched foraging from the training feeder to the novel feeder; only bees seen foraging at the novel feeder two or more times and at least once at the training feeder were collected as scouts. Non-scouts (recruits) were collected at the end of the experiments; these were bees that continued to forage at the training feeder, and were never observed to switch to the novel feeder.
2011-07-01 | E-MTAB-491 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Melipona stingless bees and honey microbiota
Project description:LC-ESI-MS/MS data files (positive and negative ion monitoring modes) of samples collected from three colonies of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona depilis: honey, fermented pollen, nurse bees, pupae, larvae, larval food from brood cells with eggs, larval food from brood cells with larvae, brood fungus, cerumen, propolis, colony entrance and the controls.
Project description:We used transcriptomics to compare instinctive and learned, reward-based, honey bee behaviors with similar spatio-temporal components: mating flights by males (drones) and time-trained foraging flights by females (workers), respectively. Genome-wide gene expression profiling via RNA sequencing was performed on the mushroom bodies (MB), a region of the brain known for multi-modal sensory integration and responsive to various types of reward. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with the onset of mating (623 genes) were enriched for the Gene Ontology (GO) categories of Transcription, Unfolded Protein Binding, Post-embryonic Development, and Neuron Differentiation. DEGs associated with the onset of foraging (473) were enriched for Lipid Transport, Regulation of Programmed Cell Death, and Actin Cytoskeleton Organization. These results demonstrate that there are fundamental molecular differences between similar instinctive and learned behaviors. In addition, there were 166 genes with strong similarities in expression across the two behaviors -- a statistically significant overlap in gene expression, also seen in Whole Genome Coexpression Network Analysis. This finding indicates that similar instinctive and learned behaviors also share common molecular architecture. This common set of DEGs was enriched for Regulation of RNA Metabolic Process, Transcription Factor Activity, and Response to Ecdysone. These findings provide a starting point for better understanding the relationship between instincts and learned behaviors. In addition, because bees collect food for their colony rather than for themselves, these results also support the idea that altruistic behavior relies, in part, on elements of brain reward systems associated with selfish behavior.
Project description:Purpose: Parts of Europe and the United States have witnessed dramatic losses in commercially managed honey bees over the past decade to what is considered an unsustainable extent. The large-scale loss of honey bees has considerable implications for the agricultural economy because honey bees are one of the leading pollinators of numerous crops. Honey bee declines have been associated with several interactive factors. Poor nutrition and viral infection are two environmental stressors that pose heightened dangers to honey bee health. Methods: We used RNA-sequencing to examine how monofloral diets (Rockrose and Chestnut) and Israeli acute paralysis virus inoculation influence gene expression patterns in honey bees. Results: We found a considerable nutritional response, with almost 2,000 transcripts changing with diet quality. The majority of these genes were over-represented for nutrient signaling (insulin resistance) and immune response (Notch signaling and JaK-STAT pathways). Somewhat unexpectedly, the transcriptomic response to viral infection was fairly limited. We only found 43 transcripts to be differentially expressed, some with known immune functions (argonaute-2), transcriptional regulation, and muscle contraction. We created contrasts to determine if any protective mechanisms of good diet were due to direct effects on immune function (resistance) or indirect effects on energy availability (tolerance). A similar number of resistance and tolerance candidate differentially expressed genes were found, suggesting both processes may play significant roles in dietary buffering from pathogen infection. We also compared the virus main effect in our study (polyandrous colonies) to that obtained in a previous study (single-drone colonies) and verified significant overlap in differential expression despite visualization methods showing differences in the noisiness levels between these two datasets. Conclusions: Through transcriptional contrasts and functional enrichment analysis, we add to evidence of feedbacks between diet and disease in honey bees. We also show that comparing results derived from polyandrous colonies (which are typically more natural) and single-drone colonies (which usually yield more signal) may allow researchers to identify transcriptomic patterns in honey bees that are concurrently less artificial and less noisy. Altogether, we hope this work underlines possible merits of using data visualization techniques and multiple datasets when interpreting RNA-sequencing studies.
Project description:The microsporidia Nosema ceranae are intracellular parasites that proliferate in the midgut epithelial cells of honey bees (Apis mellifera). To analyze the pathological effects of those microsporidia, we orally infected honey bee workers 7 days after their emergence. Bees were flash frozen 15 days after the infection. Then, the effects on the gut ventriculi were analyzed and compared to non-infected (control) bees.