A comparison of bee bread made by Africanized and European honey bees (Apis mellifera) and its effects on hemolymph protein titers

DeGrandi-Hoffman, Gloria; Eckholm, Bruce; Huang, Ming-Bo

doi:10.1007/s13592-012-0154-9

Cited by 64 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The beebread might have had pollen from sources other than rapini and caused the differences. However, similar results from controlled feeding studies have been reported (Human and Nicolson 2006;DeGrandi-Hoffman et al 2013). Possible reasons include the activity of proteolytic enzymes added to pollen during storage and metabolism by microbes in stored pollen (Gilliam et al 1989;Metges 2000).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Honey bee colonies provided with natural forage have lower pathogen loads and higher overwinter survival than those fed protein supplements

Chen²,

et al. 2015

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-Malnutrition is a major cause of colony losses. In managed hives, bees are fed protein supplements (PS) during pollen shortages. If bees were provided with natural forage instead of PS, would they have lower pathogen levels and higher queen and colony survival? We addressed this question by either providing colonies with forage (Brassica rapa -rapini) or feeding them PS from November to February. Soluble protein concentrations in the PS were lower than the rapini pollen as were levels of most amino acids. Nurse bees digested less of the protein in PS than the pollen. Hemolymph protein titers in nurse bees and colony growth did not differ between those fed PS or foraging on rapini. However, colonies fed PS had higher levels of black queen cell virus and Nosema and greater queen losses, indicating that natural forage might improve overwintering survival.pollen nutrition / digestion / amino acids / Nosema / viruses

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Honey bee colonies provided with natural forage have lower pathogen loads and higher overwinter survival than those fed protein supplements

Chen²,

et al. 2015

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“…L. kunkeei bacteria also play a key role in the lactic acid fermentation of pollen to bee bread due to their acid-, oxygen-, and osmo-tolerant features and are among the small subset of bacteria isolated from pure honey (25,40). Although the mechanisms underlying the bee bread production are not completely elucidated, LAB have been supposed to affect the pollen maturation process lowering the pH and modifying the sugar and amino acid profiles (25,41). This study aimed at investigating the metabolism of phenolic acids by FLAB as a potential alternative energy route using a high-throughput phenotypic microarray targeting 190 carbon sources.…”

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confidence: 99%

Metabolism of Fructophilic Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from the Apis mellifera L. Bee Gut: Phenolic Acids as External Electron Acceptors

Filannino

Cagno

Addante

et al. 2016

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Fructophilic lactic acid bacteria (FLAB) are strongly associated with the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) of Apis mellifera L. worker bees due to the consumption of fructose as a major carbohydrate. Seventy-seven presumptive lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from GITs of healthy A. mellifera L. adults, which were collected from 5 different geographical locations of the Apulia region of Italy. Almost all of the isolates showed fructophilic tendencies: these isolates were identified as Lactobacillus kunkeei (69%) or Fructobacillus fructosus (31%). A high-throughput phenotypic microarray targeting 190 carbon sources was used to determine that 83 compounds were differentially consumed. Phenotyping grouped the strains into two clusters, reflecting growth performance. The utilization of phenolic acids, such as p-coumaric, caffeic, syringic, or gallic acids, as electron acceptors was investigated in fructose-based medium. Almost all FLAB strains showed tolerance to high phenolic acid concentrations. p-Coumaric acid and caffeic acid were consumed by all FLAB strains through reductases or decarboxylases. Syringic and gallic acids were partially metabolized. The data collected suggest that FLAB require external electron acceptors to regenerate NADH. The use of phenolic acids as external electron acceptors by the 4 FLAB showing the highest phenolic acid reductase activity was investigated in glucose-based medium supplemented with p-coumaric acid. Metabolic responses observed through a phenotypic microarray suggested that FLAB may use p-coumaric acid as an external electron acceptor, enhancing glucose dissimilation but less efficiently than other external acceptors such as fructose or pyruvic acid. Fructophilic lactic acid bacteria (FLAB), described only recently (1-9), belong to a special group of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that prefer fructose instead of glucose as a carbon source. These bacteria have been isolated from specific ecological fructose-rich niches such as flowers, fruits, and fermented food based-fruits and, only recently, from the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) of several insects (e.g., bumblebees, honeybees, tropical fruit flies, and Camponotus ants), which have a fructose-based diet (4, 10, 11). Among these insects, social honeybees are those of greater interest because of their economic and ecological importance for honeybee products (e.g., propolis, royal jelly, honey, and pollen) and especially for crop pollination. Despite a global increase in the population of domesticated bees according to the FAO data (12), honeybees are facing growing adversity. Localized declines in bee populations have occurred in many European countries (13-15). To understand and to prevent the decrease, several studies have been addressed to investigate the symbiotic and pathogenic microbial interactions (16-19). The observations made as of to date indicate the honeybees' GITs harbor a core microbiota dissimilar to those of other animals, including humans (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). FLAB are strongly as...

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“…Hemolymph collection and total soluble protein analysis We compared hemolymph protein concentrations between treatments as a measure of protein uptake in a manner similar to other studies (e.g., Bitondi and Simoes 1996;Cremonez et al 1998;Cappelari et al 2009;DeGrandi-Hoffman et al 2013). Hemolymph was extracted from ice-anesthetized workers (newly emerged bees, 7-day-old caged bees, nurse bees, and pollen foragers) using 100-μL microcapillary pipettes (Kimble Glass, Inc.) which had previously been held over a Bunsen burner flame and then pulled apart to form a sharp tip.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) intracolonial genetic diversity influences worker nutritional status

Eckholm¹,

Huang

Anderson

et al. 2014

Apidologie

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International audienceHoney bee queens mate with multiple males resulting in high intracolonial genetic diversity among nestmates; a reproductive strategy known as extreme polyandry. Several studies have demonstrated the adaptive significance of extreme polyandry for overall colony performance and colony growth. Colonies that are more genetically diverse collect more pollen than colonies with less diversity. However, the effects of intracolonial genetic diversity on worker nutritional status are unknown. We created colonies headed by queens instrumentally inseminated with sperm from either 1 or 20 drones, then compared protein consumption, digestion, and uptake among nestmates. We found that nurse bees from colonies with multiple-drone-inseminated (MDI) queens consumed more pollen, had lower amounts of midgut tissue protease, and invested more protein into larvae than nurse bees from single-drone-inseminated (SDI) queens. Pollen foragers from MDI colonies had significantly higher hemolymph protein concentration than pollen foragers from SDI colonies. Differences in hemolymph protein concentration between nurses and pollen foragers were significantly smaller among MDI colonies than among SDI colonies. While intracolonial genetic diversity is correlated with increased foraging, our results suggest that this relationship may be driven in part by the elevated resource demands of nurse bees in genetically diverse colonies that consume and distribute more protein in response to the social context within the hive

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A comparison of bee bread made by Africanized and European honey bees (Apis mellifera) and its effects on hemolymph protein titers

Cited by 64 publications

References 57 publications

Honey bee colonies provided with natural forage have lower pathogen loads and higher overwinter survival than those fed protein supplements

Honey bee colonies provided with natural forage have lower pathogen loads and higher overwinter survival than those fed protein supplements

Metabolism of Fructophilic Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from the Apis mellifera L. Bee Gut: Phenolic Acids as External Electron Acceptors

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) intracolonial genetic diversity influences worker nutritional status

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