Comparative susceptibility and immune responses of Asian and European honey bees to the American foulbrood pathogen, Paenibacillus larvae

Abstract

American foulbrood (AFB) disease is caused by Paenibacillus larvae. Currently, this pathogen is widespread in the European honey bee-Apis mellifera. However, little is known about infectivity and pathogenicity of P. larvae in the Asiatic cavity-nesting honey bees, Apis cerana. Moreover, comparative knowledge of P. larvae infectivity and pathogenicity between both honey bee species is scarce. In this study, we examined susceptibility, larval mortality, survival rate and expression of genes encoding antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) including defensin, apidaecin, abaecin, and hymenoptaecin in A. mellifera and A. cerana when infected with P. larvae. Our results showed similar effects of P. larvae on the survival rate and patterns of AMP gene expression in both honey bee species when bee larvae are infected with spores at the median lethal concentration (LC ) for A. mellifera. All AMPs of infected bee larvae showed significant upregulation compared with noninfected bee larvae in both honey bee species. However, larvae of A. cerana were more susceptible than A. mellifera when the same larval ages and spore concentration of P. larvae were used. It also appears that A. cerana showed higher levels of AMP expression than A. mellifera. This research provides the first evidence of survival rate, LC and immune response profiles of Asian honey bees, A. cerana, when infected by P. larvae in comparison with the European honey bee, A. mellifera.

Effects of Deformed Wing Virus Infection on Expressions of Immune- and Apoptosis-Related Genes in Western Honeybees (Apis mellifera)

“…The expression of AMP genes was upregulated within 24 h of DWV and E. coli infection of honeybee pupae, which reflected the hosts' response to microbial infections. Many reports have shown that AMP genes in honeybees were upregulated after invasion of pathogens including Nosema [51], Paenibacillus larvae [52], fungi [53], viruses, and bee mites [54,55]. AMPs are non-specific innate immune responses to a broad-spectrum of pathogens [56].…”

Global warming promotes biological invasion of a honey bee pest

“…Amongst the many factors potentially impacting honey bee health and thus pollination services, invasive parasitic species, e.g. introduced by global trade in honey bees and related products such as wax and honey (Chanpanitkitchote et al, ; Krongdang, Evans, Chen, Mookhploy, & Chantawannakul, ; Neumann, Pettis, & Schäfer, ; Ouessou Idrissou, Huang, Yañez, & Neumann, ; Schäfer et al, ), can play a key role (Neumann et al, ; Potts, Biemeijer, et al, ; Rosenkranz, Aumeier, & Ziegelmann, ; van Dooremalen, Cornelissen, Poleij‐Hok‐Ahin, & Blacquière, ). However, knowledge of the potential effects of climate change on such species is currently lacking (Le Conte & Navajas, ).…”

Determination of Chloramphenicol in Honey Using Salting-Out Assisted Liquid-Liquid Extraction Coupled with Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Validation According to 2002/657 European Commission Decision

“…A careful optimization is necessary to select the best extraction condition; this goal was achieved by carrying out a factorial experimental design. The influence of four independent variables such as honey-diluted volume (HDV, 3-5 mL), extraction solvent volume (ACN, 2-4 mL), pH (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12), and salting-out percentage (NaCl, 15-25%) were simultaneously evaluated taking into account three response factors: Supernatant volume (SV, mL), extraction recovery (ER, %), and normalized matrix effect expressed as percentage of suppression (nME, %), particularly, SV as variable to minimize, ER% as variable to maximize, and nME% as hit target equal to 0. Recoveries were calculated by comparing pre-spiked with post-spiked extraction at the same concentration levels, in order to reduce the contribution of matrix effects; nME was determined by comparing post-spiked extraction with the reference standard at the same concentration levels.…”

“…In order to find the best SALLE conditions, a chemometric approach was employed. For this purpose, a 2 4 -factorial design of 18 randomized experimental runs (1 block, 16 factorial design runs, 2 centerpoints) with 7 degrees of freedom was used. In the planning of the experimental design, the influence of four independent variables at low, medium, and high level was valued.…”

“…The most common infectious diseases affecting honeybee larvae are American and European foulbrood. American foulbrood is an infectious disease caused by the sporogenic bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, while European foulbrood is caused by the gram-positive Melissococcus plutonius [ 4 ]. Among veterinary antibiotics, chloramphenicol has been widely used [ 5 ].…”