Evidence of immunocompetence reduction induced by cadmium exposure in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Polykretis, Panagis; Delfino, Giovanni; Petrocelli, Iacopo; Cervo, Rita; Tanteri, Gianfranco; Montori, G.; Perito, Brunella; Branca, Jacopo Junio Valerio; Morucci, Gabriele; Gulisano, Massimo

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2016.08.006

Cited by 29 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…bacterial clearance), workers belonging to each species were injected with the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, an immune elicitor commonly used to test antibacterial activity in insects (Yang & Cox-Foster, 2005;Manfredini et al, 2010Manfredini et al, , 2013Gätschenberger et al, 2013;Cappa et al, 2015;Polykretis et al, 2016). bacterial clearance), workers belonging to each species were injected with the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, an immune elicitor commonly used to test antibacterial activity in insects (Yang & Cox-Foster, 2005;Manfredini et al, 2010Manfredini et al, , 2013Gätschenberger et al, 2013;Cappa et al, 2015;Polykretis et al, 2016).…”

Section: Antibacterial Activity Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To compare the ability of hornet workers of the two species to remove bacterial cells from their haemolymph (i.e. bacterial clearance), workers belonging to each species were injected with the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, an immune elicitor commonly used to test antibacterial activity in insects (Yang & Cox-Foster, 2005;Manfredini et al, 2010Manfredini et al, , 2013Gätschenberger et al, 2013;Cappa et al, 2015;Polykretis et al, 2016).…”

Section: Antibacterial Activity Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Competition between the native and the introduced hornets Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina: a comparison of potentially relevant life‐history traits

Cini

Cappa

Petrocelli

et al. 2018

Ecological Entomology

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1. Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity. In addition to predation and parasitism, native species might suffer from competition when invasive alien species occupy a similar ecological niche.2. This study focused on the potential interspecific interaction between two hornets: the Asian yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, a high-concern invasive alien species recently arrived in Europe; and the native European hornet, Vespa crabro. The two species share a similar ecological niche and V. velutina is rapidly expanding across Europe, which suggests that V. crabro might suffer from competition.3. Under laboratory-controlled conditions, two life-history traits that might cause the two species to compete were investigated: (i) the ability of workers to find food sources and their flexibility in exploiting them (through individual food item choice tests and exploration assays); and (ii) the worker resistance to pathogens (through immune challenge tests).4. The results show that trophic preference of both species highly overlaps, with a marked dietary preference for honeybees compared with other insect prey and non-prey protein items. No differences were observed in the exploratory behaviour of both species. Finally, constitutive antibacterial activity was greater in workers of the native species than in workers of the invasive hornet.5. This laboratory study provides a first assessment under controlled conditions of the factors affecting competition between workers of two hornet species and proposes a framework to assess, in wild contexts, the magnitude of the competition and the impact of the introduced V. velutina on the native V. crabro.

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Section: Antibacterial Activity Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Antibacterial Activity Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition between the native and the introduced hornets Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina: a comparison of potentially relevant life‐history traits

Cini

Cappa

Petrocelli

et al. 2018

Ecological Entomology

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“…It is known that Cd exerts its toxicity mainly through oxidative stress but also leads to alterations in the DNA methylation pattern [14,15] and epigenetic profiles and phenotypes [16]. Furthermore, Cd has a negative effect on wound healing mechanisms shown in L. terrestris [17] and revealed immunosuppressive effects [18,19,20]. Moreover, Hinrichsen and Tran 2010 found that for Paramecium tetraurelia the sensitivity to Cd has been shown to follow a circadian pattern [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulatory Plasticity of Earthworm wMT-2 Gene Expression

Drechsel

Schauer

Šrut

et al. 2017

IJMS

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Metallothioneins (MTs) are multifunctional proteins occurring throughout the animal kingdom. While the expression and transcriptional regulation of MTs is well-studied in vertebrates, the mechanism of MT activation is still unknown for most invertebrates. Therefore, we examined wMT-2 gene regulation and expression patterns in Lumbricus rubellus and L. terrestris. Transcription levels, the occupation of DNA binding sites, the expression of putative transcriptional regulators, and promotor DNA methylation were determined. We found that wMT-2 expression does not follow a circadian pattern. However, Cd-induced wMT-2 induction was observed, and was, interestingly, suppressed by physical injury. Moreover, the promotor region that is responsible for the wMT-2 gene regulation was elucidated. ATF, a putative transcriptional regulator, showed increased phosphorylation upon Cd exposure, suggesting that it plays a major role in wMT-2 gene activation. The promotor methylation of wMT-2, on the other hand, is probably not involved in transcriptional regulation. Elucidating the regulatory mechanism of the earthworm MT gene activation might provide insights into the molecular coordination of the environmental stress response in invertebrates, and might also reveal a link to wound repair and, in a broader sense, to immunity.

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“…Higher levels of heavy metals in the insect body lead to diverse physiological effects. Within the body, heavy metals seem to be sequestered as mineralized spherites into different tissues such as the intestinal tissue, fat body, or Malphigian tubules [80,211,212] as a detoxification mechanism. In the social wasp Polistes dominula, heavy metal contamination leads to alterations in the midgut tissue on the cellular level.…”

Section: Pollutants: Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such a reduction in the encapsulation response might make these ants more susceptible to infection [138], and may explain the smaller colony sizes in heavily polluted sites [133]. Similarly, feeding honeybee workers with sublethal concentrations of Cd significantly impaired the ability to prevent bacterial proliferation after an immune challenge with live E. coli 3 days after exposure [212].…”

Section: Pollutants: Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollutants and Their Interaction with Diseases of Social Hymenoptera

Feldhaar

Otti

2020

Insects

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Many insect species, including social insects, are currently declining in abundance and diversity. Pollutants such as pesticides, heavy metals, or airborne fine particulate matter from agricultural and industrial sources are among the factors driving this decline. While these pollutants can have direct detrimental effects, they can also result in negative interactive effects when social insects are simultaneously exposed to multiple stressors. For example, sublethal effects of pollutants can increase the disease susceptibility of social insects, and thereby jeopardize their survival. Here we review how pesticides, heavy metals, or airborne fine particulate matter interact with social insect physiology and especially the insects’ immune system. We then give an overview of the current knowledge of the interactive effects of these pollutants with pathogens or parasites. While the effects of pesticide exposure on social insects and their interactions with pathogens have been relatively well studied, the effects of other pollutants, such as heavy metals in soil or fine particulate matter from combustion, vehicular transport, agriculture, and coal mining are still largely unknown. We therefore provide an overview of urgently needed knowledge in order to mitigate the decline of social insects.

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Evidence of immunocompetence reduction induced by cadmium exposure in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Cited by 29 publications

References 37 publications

Competition between the native and the introduced hornets Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina: a comparison of potentially relevant life‐history traits

Competition between the native and the introduced hornets Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina: a comparison of potentially relevant life‐history traits

Regulatory Plasticity of Earthworm wMT-2 Gene Expression

Pollutants and Their Interaction with Diseases of Social Hymenoptera

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