Resin to Propolis: Biological origins and role in honey bee social immunity and health

在产树脂的植物和利用它们的各种生物之间，已经进化出了许多迷人的生态相互作用。本研究将探讨西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）如何选择和开发树脂的药理特性，以有益于殖民地的健康。蜜蜂是当地和农业生态系统最重要的授粉者。由于自2006年以来，美国平均每年损失超过30%的蜂群，因此促进蜜蜂的自然防御和养蜂业的经济健康非常重要。蜜蜂收集树脂并将其存款在巢中，在那里它被称为树脂。巢内壁上的一层细菌包膜作为外部抗菌层包围着殖民地，有利于蜜蜂的免疫防御和蜂群水平的社会免疫。 这项研究将探索树脂中的植物来源的化学成分是否对蜜蜂的一般微生物和特定病原体提供重要的群体防御。 此外，它将确定蜜蜂是否增加树脂收集和/或在用细菌病原体攻击后将树脂的植物来源转换为具有更大生物活性的那些。将追求四个目标：1）确定该菌被膜是否对细菌病原体、幼虫类芽孢杆菌（Paenibacillus larvae）具有活性，所述幼虫类芽孢杆菌是田间菌落中美洲幼虫病的病原体。研究结果将揭示促进蜜蜂健康的新方法，并解释自然收集的化合物在减轻蜜蜂疾病方面的功能。2)量化蜜蜂是否增加树脂收集以响应细菌病原体的挑战。这些研究将揭示收集树脂的行为机制，由一个相对罕见的子集蜜蜂在殖民地的觅食选择有助于社会免疫力在殖民地水平。3)通过代谢物指纹图谱分析确定蜜蜂用于蜂胶制剂的树脂的植物来源。这些分析的结果将建立生物活性物质的来源与其对蜜蜂健康的最终影响之间的联系。这种联系将为今后研究地球仪蜜蜂亚种之间树脂使用和健康之间的关系提供见解。4)使用生物测定驱动的纯化和基于代谢组学的方法鉴定抑制蜜蜂细菌病原体生长的蜂胶的生物活性成分。现代生物测定引导的化学分离将促进以前未知的抗菌物质的发现，并为树脂在植物-动物相互作用的生态学和进化中作为药理学试剂的作用开辟新的研究途径。这项研究将吸引和教育学生在学科从应用养蜂代谢组学分析和分子遗传学。通过与威斯康星州大学生物学教授的合作，河流瀑布，参加BEE课程（蜜蜂增强教育）的本科生将分析蜂胶处理过的蜂群中蜜蜂的病毒水平，这将帮助他们将微生物学，生态学，植物学和分子生物学概念与相关的“现实世界”传粉媒介下降的问题联系起来。PI的联合研究，教学和推广任命确保这项研究将被翻译和传播给不同的受众，包括科学家，传统和非传统的学生，养蜂人和公众。

A number of fascinating ecological interactions have evolved between resin producing plants and the wide array of organisms that exploit them. This research will explore how honey bees, Apis mellifera, select and exploit the pharmacological properties of resin to benefit the health of the colony. Honey bees are the most important pollinators of native and agro-ecosystems. Due to the average annual loss of over 30% of the U.S. honey bee colonies since 2006, it is important to promote the natural defenses of honey bees and the economic health of the beekeeping industry. Honey bees collect resin and deposit it in the nest where it is called propolis. A propolis envelope lining the inner walls of the nest acts as an external antimicrobial layer surrounding the colony, benefiting bee immune defenses and colony-level social immunity. This research will explore if plant-derived chemical components in resin provide an important colony defense against both general microorganisms and specific pathogens of honey bees. Further it will determine if bees increase resin collection and/or switch botanical sources of resin to those with greater biological activity after challenge with a bacterial pathogen. Four objectives will be pursued: 1) Determine if the propolis envelope is active against the bacterial pathogen, Paenibacillus larvae, the causative agent of American foulbrood disease in field colonies. Findings will reveal novel approaches to promote honey bee health and explain the function of naturally collected compounds in mitigating diseases of honey bees. 2) Quantify if honey bees increase resin collection in response to challenge with a bacterial pathogen. These studies will shed light on the behavioral mechanisms underlying the collection of resin by a relatively rare subset of bees in the colony whose foraging choices contribute to social immunity at the colony level. 3) Identify the botanical sources of resins used by honey bees for propolis formulation by metabolite fingerprinting analysis. Findings from these analyses will establish the link between the origin of the biologically active substances and their ultimate impacts on honey bee health. This link will provide insight for future studies into the relationship between resin use and health among honey bee subspecies across the globe. 4) Identify bioactive components of propolis that inhibit growth of a honey bee bacterial pathogen using both bioassay-driven purification and metabolomics-based methods. Modern bioassay-guided chemical isolation will facilitate the discovery of previously unknown antimicrobial substances and open new research avenues into the role of resins as pharmacological agents in the ecology and evolution of plant-animal interactions. This research will attract and educate students in disciplines from applied beekeeping to metabolomic analyses and molecular genetics. Through a collaboration with Biology professors at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, undergraduates participating in the BEE course (Bees Enhancing Education) the will analyze virus levels in bees from propolis-treated colonies, which will help them connect microbiology, ecology, botany, and molecular biology concepts to the relevant, "real-world" problem of pollinator decline. The PI's combined research, teaching, and extension appointments ensure that this research will be translated and disseminated to a diverse audience including scientists, traditional and non-traditional students, beekeepers, and the general public.