A strong immune response in young adult honeybees masks their increased susceptibility to infection compared to older bees.
A strong immune response in young adult honeybees masks their increased susceptibility to infection compared to older bees.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1371/journal.ppat.1003083
复制
发表时间：
2012-12
期刊：
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
Chandler D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bull JC;Ryabov EV;Prince G;Mead A;Zhang C;Baxter LA;Pell JK;Osborne JL;Chandler D
蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）表现出与年龄相关的劳动分工，其中年轻的成年蜜蜂在殖民地内执行维护（“管家”）任务，然后在大约23天大时切换到外部觅食。抗病性是蜜蜂生物学的一个重要特征，但对病原体的相互作用和与年龄相关的劳动分工知之甚少。我们测试了一个假设，老年人觅食蜜蜂和年轻的“家”蜜蜂不同的易感性感染。我们结合感染生物测定与功能分析的基因表达在个别蜜蜂使用全基因组微阵列。用昆虫病原真菌金龟子绿僵菌处理的觅食蜂。比家养蜜蜂存活的时间长得多这是伴随着基因表达的实质性差异，包括与免疫功能相关的基因。在家蜂中，感染与35个候选免疫基因的差异表达相关，而在觅食蜂中只有两个候选免疫基因的差异表达。对于对照蜂（即未用M.绿僵菌（anisopliae）从房屋到觅食阶段的发育与49个候选免疫基因的差异表达相关，包括抗微生物肽基因abaecin的上调，加上Toll途径的主要组分、丝氨酸蛋白酶和丝氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂。我们推断，降低病原体的易感性觅食蜜蜂与年龄相关的特定免疫系统途径的激活。我们的研究结果与社会昆虫的免疫能力下降的观点相比，作为一个权衡的结果，在资源分配觅食的开始觅食。研究表明，幼蜂对M.绿僵菌感染是疾病易感性的一个指标;这也对以前在社会昆虫中的研究提出了挑战，其中免疫状态的提高被用作抗病性和适应性提高的标志，而没有考虑与年龄有关的发育的影响。蜜蜂具有高度发达的社会生物学形式，其中任务根据年龄分配给工人，年轻的蜜蜂在长大后切换到觅食任务之前执行家务任务（“家蜂”）。这种劳动分工对蚁群的功能和生存至关重要。已知病原体是造成目前全球蜜蜂数量下降的部分原因，但我们对不同类型的工蜂对感染的反应知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们用昆虫病原体感染了家蜂和觅食蜂。我们测量了蜜蜂的存活率和调节免疫系统的基因的表达。更多的免疫基因上调，在家蜜蜂比觅食在响应感染，但觅食比家蜜蜂更能抵抗病原体。我们发现，从房子到觅食阶段的发展导致了调节抗菌蛋白生产的基因表达的增加。由此推断，部分免疫系统在发育过程中被激活，导致觅食蜜蜂对传染病的抵抗力更强。我们的研究为蜜蜂免疫系统的功能及其与社会组织的相互作用提供了新的见解。
Honeybees, Apis mellifera, show age-related division of labor in which young adults perform maintenance (“housekeeping”) tasks inside the colony before switching to outside foraging at approximately 23 days old. Disease resistance is an important feature of honeybee biology, but little is known about the interaction of pathogens and age-related division of labor. We tested a hypothesis that older forager bees and younger “house” bees differ in susceptibility to infection. We coupled an infection bioassay with a functional analysis of gene expression in individual bees using a whole genome microarray. Forager bees treated with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae s.l. survived for significantly longer than house bees. This was concomitant with substantial differences in gene expression including genes associated with immune function. In house bees, infection was associated with differential expression of 35 candidate immune genes contrasted with differential expression of only two candidate immune genes in forager bees. For control bees (i.e. not treated with M. anisopliae) the development from the house to the forager stage was associated with differential expression of 49 candidate immune genes, including up-regulation of the antimicrobial peptide gene abaecin, plus major components of the Toll pathway, serine proteases, and serpins. We infer that reduced pathogen susceptibility in forager bees was associated with age-related activation of specific immune system pathways. Our findings contrast with the view that the immunocompetence in social insects declines with the onset of foraging as a result of a trade-off in the allocation of resources for foraging. The up-regulation of immune-related genes in young adult bees in response to M. anisopliae infection was an indicator of disease susceptibility; this also challenges previous research in social insects, in which an elevated immune status has been used as a marker of increased disease resistance and fitness without considering the effects of age-related development. Honeybees have a highly developed form of social biology in which tasks are distributed among workers according to their age, with younger bees performing housekeeping tasks (“house bees”) before switching to foraging duties when they grow older. This division of labor is vital to colony function and survival. Pathogens are known to be partly responsible for the current decline in honeybee populations around the world, but we understand little about the responses of different types of worker bee to infection. In this study, we infected house and forager bees with an insect pathogen. We measured bee survival rate and the expression of genes that regulate the immune system. More immune genes were up regulated in house bees than foragers in response to infection, but foragers were more resistant to the pathogen than house bees. We found that development from the house to forager stages resulted in increased expression of genes that regulate the production of antimicrobial proteins. The inference is that parts of the immune system are activated during development, resulting in greater resistance to infectious disease in forager bees. Our study provides new insights into the functioning of the honeybee immune system and its interaction with social organisation.
登录
查看更多内容
影响因子：
3.1
作者：
Blanchard, Philippe;Ribiere, Magali;Faucon, Jean Paul
通讯作者：
Faucon, Jean Paul
影响因子：
2.1
作者：
Bos, N.;Lefevre, T.;d'Ettorre, P.
通讯作者：
d'Ettorre, P.
影响因子：
3.4
作者：
Chen, YP;Zhao, Y;Feldlaufer, M
通讯作者：
Feldlaufer, M
影响因子：
2.3
作者：
CALDERONE, NW;PAGE, RE
通讯作者：
PAGE, RE
影响因子：
5.1
作者：
Andersen, M.;Magan, N.;Chandler, D.
通讯作者：
Chandler, D.