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Ponton F, Tan YX, Forster CC, Austin AJ, English S, Cotter SC, Wilson K. The complex interactions between nutrition, immunity and infection in insects. J Exp Biol 2023; 226:jeb245714. [PMID: 38095228 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Insects are the most diverse animal group on the planet. Their success is reflected by the diversity of habitats in which they live. However, these habitats have undergone great changes in recent decades; understanding how these changes affect insect health and fitness is an important challenge for insect conservation. In this Review, we focus on the research that links the nutritional environment with infection and immune status in insects. We first discuss the research from the field of nutritional immunology, and we then investigate how factors such as intracellular and extracellular symbionts, sociality and transgenerational effects may interact with the connection between nutrition and immunity. We show that the interactions between nutrition and resistance can be highly specific to insect species and/or infection type - this is almost certainly due to the diversity of insect social interactions and life cycles, and the varied environments in which insects live. Hence, these connections cannot be easily generalised across insects. We finally suggest that other environmental aspects - such as the use of agrochemicals and climatic factors - might also influence the interaction between nutrition and resistance, and highlight how research on these is essential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fleur Ponton
- School of Natural Sciences , Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Yin Xun Tan
- School of Natural Sciences , Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Casey C Forster
- School of Natural Sciences , Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia
| | | | - Sinead English
- School of Biological Sciences , University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1QU, UK
| | | | - Kenneth Wilson
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
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Vanderplanck M, Marin L, Michez D, Gekière A. Pollen as Bee Medicine: Is Prevention Better than Cure? BIOLOGY 2023; 12:497. [PMID: 37106698 PMCID: PMC10135463 DOI: 10.3390/biology12040497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023]
Abstract
To face environmental stressors such as infection, animals may display behavioural plasticity to improve their physiological status through ingestion of specific food. In bees, the significance of medicating pollen may be limited by their ability to exploit it. Until now, studies have focused on the medicinal effects of pollen and nectar after forced-feeding experiments, overlooking spontaneous intake. Here, we explored the medicinal effects of different pollen on Bombus terrestris workers infected by the gut parasite Crithidia bombi. First, we used a forced-feeding experimental design allowing for the distinction between prophylactic and therapeutic effects of pollen, considering host tolerance and resistance. Then, we assessed whether bumble bees favoured medicating resources when infected to demonstrate potential self-medicative behaviour. We found that infected bumble bees had a lower fitness but higher resistance when forced to consume sunflower or heather pollen, and that infection dynamics was more gradual in therapeutic treatments. When given the choice between resources, infected workers did not target medicating pollen, nor did they consume more medicating pollen than uninfected ones. These results emphasize that the access to medicating resources could impede parasite dynamics, but that the cost-benefit trade-off could be detrimental when fitness is highly reduced.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucie Marin
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Denis Michez
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Antoine Gekière
- Laboratory of Zoology, Research Institute for Biosciences, University of Mons, 7000 Mons, Belgium
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Recart W, Bernhard R, Ng I, Garcia K, Fleming-Davies AE. Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Insect Pathogens: Implications for Plant Reproduction. Pathogens 2023; 12:pathogens12020347. [PMID: 36839619 PMCID: PMC9958737 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12020347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Revised: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite extensive work on both insect disease and plant reproduction, there is little research on the intersection of the two. Insect-infecting pathogens could disrupt the pollination process by affecting pollinator population density or traits. Pathogens may also infect insect herbivores and change herbivory, potentially altering resource allocation to plant reproduction. We conducted a meta-analysis to (1) summarize the literature on the effects of pathogens on insect pollinators and herbivores and (2) quantify the extent to which pathogens affect insect traits, with potential repercussions for plant reproduction. We found 39 articles that fit our criteria for inclusion, extracting 218 measures of insect traits for 21 different insect species exposed to 25 different pathogens. We detected a negative effect of pathogen exposure on insect traits, which varied by host function: pathogens had a significant negative effect on insects that were herbivores or carried multiple functions but not on insects that solely functioned as pollinators. Particular pathogen types were heavily studied in certain insect orders, with 7 of 11 viral pathogen studies conducted in Lepidoptera and 5 of 9 fungal pathogen studies conducted in Hymenoptera. Our results suggest that most studies have focused on a small set of host-pathogen pairs. To understand the implications for plant reproduction, future work is needed to directly measure the effects of pathogens on pollinator effectiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wilnelia Recart
- Biology Department, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
- Correspondence:
| | - Rover Bernhard
- Biology Department, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
- Biology Department, Lewis and Clark College, 615 S. Palatine Hill Road, Portland, OR 97219, USA
| | - Isabella Ng
- Biology Department, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
| | - Katherine Garcia
- Biology Department, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
- Environmental Sciences Department, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0021, USA
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Penn HJ, Simone-Finstrom MD, de Guzman LI, Tokarz PG, Dickens R. Colony-Level Viral Load Influences Collective Foraging in Honey Bees. FRONTIERS IN INSECT SCIENCE 2022; 2:894482. [PMID: 38468777 PMCID: PMC10926460 DOI: 10.3389/finsc.2022.894482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Nutrition is an important component of social insect colony health especially in the face of stressors such as parasitism and viral infections. Honey bees are known to preferentially select nectar and pollen based on macronutrient and phytochemical contents and in response to pathogen loads. However, given that honey bees live in colonies, collective foraging decisions may be impacted directly by forager infection status but also by colony health. This field experiment was conducted to determine if honey bee viral infections are correlated with pollen and nectar foraging and if these associations are impacted more by colony or forager infection. By comparing regressions with and without forager and colony variables and through structural equation models, we were able to determine the relative contributions of colony and forager virus loads on forager decisions. We found that foragers had higher numbers and levels of BQCV and CBPV but lower levels of DWV viruses than their respective colonies. Overall, individuals appeared to forage based a combination of their own and colony health but with greater weight given to colony metrics. Colony parasitism by Varroa mites, positively correlated with both forager and colony DWV-B levels, was negatively associated with nectar weight. Further, colony DWV-B levels were negatively associated with individually foraged pollen protein: lipid ratios but positively correlated with nectar weight and sugar content. This study shows that both colony and forager health can simultaneously mediate individual foraging decisions and that the importance of viral infections and parasite levels varies with foraging metrics. Overall, this work highlights the continued need to explore the interactions of disease, nutrition, and genetics in social interactions and structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah J. Penn
- USDA ARS, Sugarcane Research Unit, Houma, LA, United States
| | - Michael D. Simone-Finstrom
- USDA ARS, Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
| | - Lilia I. de Guzman
- USDA ARS, Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
| | - Philip G. Tokarz
- USDA ARS, Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
| | - Rachel Dickens
- USDA ARS, Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
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Jabal-Uriel C, Albarracín VN, Calatayud J, Higes M, Martín-Hernández R. Age and Season Effect the Timing of Adult Worker Honeybee Infection by Nosema ceranae. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 11:823050. [PMID: 35155274 PMCID: PMC8836290 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.823050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The microsporidia Nosema ceranae is an intracellular parasite of honeybees’ midgut, highly prevalent in Apis mellifera colonies for which important epidemiological information is still unknown. Our research aimed at understanding how age and season influence the onset of infection in honeybees and its development in the colony environment. Adult worker honeybees of less than 24h were marked and introduced into 6 different colonies in assays carried out in spring and autumn. Bees of known age were individually analyzed by PCR for Nosema spp. infection and those resulting positive were studied to determine the load by Real Time-qPCR. The age of onset and development of infection in each season was studied on a total of 2401 bees and the probability and the load of infection for both periods was established with two statistical models. First N. ceranae infected honeybees were detected at day 5 post emergence (p.e.; spring) and at day 4 p.e. (autumn) and in-hive prevalence increased from that point onwards, reaching the highest mean infection on day 18 p.e. (spring). The probability of infection increased significantly with age in both periods although the age variable better correlated in spring. The N. ceranae load tended to increase with age in both periods, although the age-load relationship was clearer in spring than in autumn. Therefore, age and season play an important role on the probability and the development of N. ceranae infection in honeybees, bringing important information to understand how it spreads within a colony.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Jabal-Uriel
- Laboratorio de Patología Apícola, Centro de Investigación Apícola y Agroambiental (CIAPA), Instituto Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario y Forestal (IRIAF), Consejería de Agricultura de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Marchamalo, Spain
| | - Verónica N. Albarracín
- Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia de la Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina
| | - Joaquín Calatayud
- Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Mariano Higes
- Laboratorio de Patología Apícola, Centro de Investigación Apícola y Agroambiental (CIAPA), Instituto Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario y Forestal (IRIAF), Consejería de Agricultura de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Marchamalo, Spain
| | - Raquel Martín-Hernández
- Laboratorio de Patología Apícola, Centro de Investigación Apícola y Agroambiental (CIAPA), Instituto Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario y Forestal (IRIAF), Consejería de Agricultura de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Marchamalo, Spain
- Instituto de Recursos Humanos para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (INCRECYT – ESF/EC-FSE), Fundación Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Castilla – La Mancha, Albacete, Spain
- *Correspondence: Raquel Martín-Hernández,
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Classification of Bee Pollen and Prediction of Sensory and Colorimetric Attributes-A Sensometric Fusion Approach by e-Nose, e-Tongue and NIR. SENSORS 2020; 20:s20236768. [PMID: 33256130 PMCID: PMC7730699 DOI: 10.3390/s20236768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2020] [Revised: 11/21/2020] [Accepted: 11/23/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The chemical composition of bee pollens differs greatly and depends primarily on the botanical origin of the product. Therefore, it is a crucially important task to discriminate pollens of different plant species. In our work, we aim to determine the applicability of microscopic pollen analysis, spectral colour measurement, sensory, NIR spectroscopy, e-nose and e-tongue methods for the classification of bee pollen of five different botanical origins. Chemometric methods (PCA, LDA) were used to classify bee pollen loads by analysing the statistical pattern of the samples and to determine the independent and combined effects of the above-mentioned methods. The results of the microscopic analysis identified 100% of sunflower, red clover, rapeseed and two polyfloral pollens mainly containing lakeshore bulrush and spiny plumeless thistle. The colour profiles of the samples were different for the five different samples. E-nose and NIR provided 100% classification accuracy, while e-tongue > 94% classification accuracy for the botanical origin identification using LDA. Partial least square regression (PLS) results built to regress on the sensory and spectral colour attributes using the fused data of NIR spectroscopy, e-nose and e-tongue showed higher than 0.8 R2 during the validation except for one attribute, which was much higher compared to the independent models built for instruments.
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Purkiss T, Lach L. Pathogen spillover from Apis mellifera to a stingless bee. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191071. [PMID: 31387511 PMCID: PMC6710595 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2019] [Accepted: 07/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Pathogen spillover from managed bees is increasingly considered as a possible cause of pollinator decline. Though spillover has been frequently documented, evidence of the pathogen's virulence in the new host or mechanism of transmission is rare. Stingless bees (Apocrita: Meliponini) are crucial pollinators pan-tropically and overlap with managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) in much of their range. Nosema ceranae is the most prevalent disease of adult A. mellifera. We used laboratory experiments and field surveys to investigate the susceptibility of stingless bees (Tetragonula hockingsi) to N. ceranae, infection prevalence and transmissibility via flowers. We found that 67% of T. hockingsi fed sucrose with N. ceranae had detectable spores in their ventriculus, and they died at 2.96 times the rate of sucrose-only fed bees. Five of six field hives harboured bees with N. ceranae present at least once during our five-month survey, with prevalence up to 20%. In our floral transmission experiment, 67% of inflorescences exposed to infected A. mellifera yielded N. ceranae spores, and all resulted in T. hockingsi with N. ceranae spores in their guts. We conclude that N. ceranae is virulent in T. hockingsi under laboratory conditions, is common in the local T. hockingsi population and is transmissible via flowers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lori Lach
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia
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de Roode JC, Hunter MD. Self-medication in insects: when altered behaviors of infected insects are a defense instead of a parasite manipulation. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2019; 33:1-6. [PMID: 31358187 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2018.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2018] [Revised: 12/05/2018] [Accepted: 12/07/2018] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Studies have demonstrated that medication behaviors by insects are much more common than previously thought. Bees, ants, flies, and butterflies can use a wide range of toxic and nutritional compounds to medicate themselves or their genetic kin. Medication occurs either in response to active infection (therapy) or high infection risk (prophylaxis), and can be used to increase resistance or tolerance to infection. While much progress has been made over the last few years, there are also key areas that require in-depth investigation. These include quantifying the costs of medication, especially at the colony level of social insects, and formulating theoretical models that can predict the role of infection risk in driving micro-evolutionary and macro-evolutionary patterns of animal medication behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacobus C de Roode
- Department of Biology, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States.
| | - Mark D Hunter
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1105 N University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
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Lihoreau M, Gómez-Moracho T, Pasquaretta C, Costa JT, Buhl C. Social nutrition: an emerging field in insect science. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2018; 28:73-80. [PMID: 30551770 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2018.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Revised: 05/01/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Nutrition is thought to be a major driver of social evolution, yet empirical support for this hypothesis is scarce. Here we illustrate how conceptual advances in nutritional ecology illuminate some of the mechanisms by which nutrition mediates social interactions in insects. We focus on experiments and models of nutritional geometry and argue that they provide a powerful means for comparing nutritional phenomena across species exhibiting various social ecologies. This approach, initially developed to study the nutritional behaviour of individual insects, has been increasingly used to study insect groups and societies, leading to the emerging field of social nutrition. We discuss future directions for exploring how these nutritional mechanisms may influence major social transitions in insects and other animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Lihoreau
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
| | - Tamara Gómez-Moracho
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Cristian Pasquaretta
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - James T Costa
- Highlands Biological Station, 265 N. Sixth Street, Highlands, NC 28741, USA; Department of Biology, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA
| | - Camille Buhl
- School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Southern Australia 5005, Australia
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