Genetic and behavioural basis of social organisms-parasite interactions: the case of honeybees and the mite varroa destructor

社会生物与寄生虫相互作用的遗传和行为基础：蜜蜂和螨瓦螨的案例

• 批准号: 326962-2006
• 负责人: Guzman, Ernesto
• 金额: $ 2.32万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2006-01-01 至 2007-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=340457
• 关键词: Genetic; behavioural; basis; social; organisms

The goal of this project is to generate new basic knowledge about the genetic and behavioural mechanisms that regulate the populations of a parasite affecting a social organism. Honeybees are good models of social organisms because of the large number of individuals in their colonies, their well-known division of labour, and the existence of technology to manipulate their environment and to study their genetics and behaviour. The mite Varroa destructor is a relatively new parasite of Apis mellifera (less than 60 years of interaction) and therefore it is generally highly pathogenic to its new host. Variability in its detrimental effects to honeybee colonies is well documented, but the causes of this variability are not yet well understood. It is known that bees posses behavioural mechanisms of resistance or tolerance against the mite, but the genetic basis underlying the expression of these mechanisms, as well as their relative impact on restraining the mite population growth is not well known. We will amplify DNA markers linked to quantitative trait loci (my collaborator G.J. Hunt has sequenced cDNA from genes that influence bee behaviours and developed primers and restriction enzyme combinations that reveal polymorphisms within the genes) from individual workers sampled when performing hygienic behaviour (the ability of bees to detect, open a cell, and discard bee brood infested with mites) and grooming behaviour (the ability of workers to dislodge mites from their bodies and/or injure them), to determine if they influence these behavioural characteristics. We will also document genetic effects on mite fertility and rates of mite population growth, as well as the genotypic variability, mode of inheritance, and relative impact of these two mechanisms. Additionally, we will further study the relationship between the above behaviours and defensive behaviour (we have preliminary data on this regard). We are interested in pleiotropic gene effects for grooming, hygienic, and defensive traits. We have ample experience in behavioural and genetic studies conducted with honeybees and Varroa mites. Therefore, this study has very high probabilities of being completed successfully.

该项目的目标是产生关于调节影响社会有机体的寄生虫种群的遗传和行为机制的新的基础知识。蜜蜂是社会有机体的良好模型，因为它们的蜂群中有大量的个体，它们的劳动分工众所周知，并且存在操纵它们的环境和研究它们的遗传和行为的技术。瓦螨是一种相对较新的蜜蜂寄生虫（互动时间不到 60 年），因此通常对其新宿主具有高致病性。它对蜂群有害影响的变异性已得到充分记录，但这种变异性的原因尚不清楚。众所周知，蜜蜂对螨虫具有抵抗或耐受的行为机制，但这些机制表达的遗传基础，以及它们对抑制螨虫种群增长的相对影响尚不清楚。我们将从执行卫生行为（蜜蜂检测、打开细胞和丢弃受螨虫侵扰的蜂巢的能力）和梳理行为时采样的工蜂个体中，扩增与数量性状基因座相关的 DNA 标记（我的合作者 G.J. Hunt 对影响蜜蜂行为的基因进行了 cDNA 测序，并开发了揭示基因内多态性的引物和限制性内切酶组合）。 行为（工人将螨虫从体内驱除和/或伤害它们的能力），以确定它们是否影响这些行为特征。我们还将记录遗传对螨虫繁殖力和螨虫种群增长率的影响，以及基因型变异、遗传模式和这两种机制的相对影响。另外，我们将进一步研究上述行为与防御行为之间的关系（我们有这方面的初步数据）。我们对修饰、卫生和防御性状的多效性基因效应感兴趣。我们在蜜蜂和瓦螨的行为和遗传研究方面拥有丰富的经验。因此，这项研究成功完成的可能性非常高。