Epigenetics of neonicotinoids in an important insect pollinator

新烟碱类杀虫剂是一类受欢迎的杀虫剂，由于其杀灭昆虫的效率和对脊椎动物的低毒而受到青睐。不幸的是，新烟碱类杀虫剂与蜜蜂数量的减少有关。这些杀虫剂是神经活性和靶向烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体(NAChRs)，它扰乱昆虫神经元的功能，导致瘫痪和死亡。此外，蜜蜂和大黄蜂的亚致死剂量都被发现会导致行为变化，如觅食、导航、记忆和运动受损。由于新烟碱的作用范围很广，已有研究表明，新烟碱有多种作用模式，超出了其预期的神经传递目标。在不同发育阶段和等级的蜜蜂和大黄蜂中，由于暴露新烟碱而导致的基因表达差异已经被发现。然而，从单细胞方法来看，这将提供一种独特的方法，以细胞分辨率生成基因表达变化的全脑视图。这将使我们能够进一步发现大黄蜂工蚁对新烟碱的反应改变了哪些基因和途径。最近，单细胞RNA-SEQ已成为研究高分辨率转录组差异、细胞异质性和细胞标记的一种强有力的技术。ScRNA-Seq将极大地提高我们对暴露于新烟碱的影响机制的理解，并识别细胞特异性反应。这反过来将有助于我们了解杀虫剂对目标害虫物种的影响，识别农药毒性的重要潜在生物标志物，并最终有助于为未来关于控制新烟碱使用的立法讨论提供信息。

Neonicotinoids are a popular class of insecticides that are favoured due to their efficiency in killing insects whilst having low toxicity towards vertebrates. Unfortunately, neonicotinoid insecticides have been implicated in the decline of bees. These insecticides are neuroactive and target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) which disrupts the function of insect neurons, resulting in paralysis and death. Additionally, sublethal doses in both honeybees and bumblebees has been found to cause behavioural changes such as impaired foraging, navigation, memory and movement. Due to the wide range of effects it has been suggested that neonicotinoids have multiple modes of action beyond their intended neurotransmission target. Gene expression differences due to neonicotinoid exposure has been found in honeybee and bumblebee across developmental stages and castes. However, looking at this from a single cell approach would provide a unique means to generate a brain-wide view of gene expression changes at a cellular resolution. This would enable us to further discover what genes and pathways are altered in bumblebee workers in response to neonicotinoids. Recently, single cell RNA-seq has emerged as a powerful technique to investigate high resolution transcriptome differences, cellular heterogeneity and cellular markers. scRNA-Seq would greatly improve our understanding of the mechanisms affected by exposure to neonicotinoids and identify cell-specific responses. This in turn would aid our understanding of the effect of pesticides on target pest species, identify important potential biomarkers of pesticide toxicity and ultimately help to inform future discussion on legislation controlling neonicotinoid use.