Antibacterial Peptide Gene Expression and Virus Transmission in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera Feb.) by Varroa destructor Infestation

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The varroa mite (Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman) is currently the most serious threat to the world bee industry. This ectoparasitic honey bee mite was originally confined to the Eastern honey bee, Apis cerana, but now plagues the European honey bee, Apis mellifera. Differences in mite tolerance are reported between these two honey bee species. We amplified antimicrobial peptide cDNA genes (Defensin, Abaecin, Royalicin, and Hymenoptaecin) by RT-PCR in order to explore the transcriptional response to mite parasitism in A. mellifera, which differs in susceptibility to varroa mites, by comparing parasitized and non-parasitized full-sister adult bees (worker bees, drone bees) from the same hive. Differential gene expression in worker and drone bees induced by varroa infestation was investigated by northern blotting. Varroa mite parasitism caused changes in the expression of genes related to sex distinction. Bees tolerant to viruses from varroa mites were mainly characterized by differences in the expression of genes regulating antimicrobial gene expression. This finding provides a first step towards a better understanding of the molecular expression involved in this differential sex distinction host-parasite relationship. We detected bee virus in A. mellifera by comparing parasitized and non-parasitized full-sister adult bees (worker bees, drone bee). Therefore, this result demonstrated that varroa mites were another possible route of horizontal transmission and induction of antibacterial gene expression.

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