Genes related to immunity, as expressed in the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata, during pathogen challenge.
Virtually nothing is known about disease resistance in solitary bees, so expressed sequence tag (EST) databases were developed to search for immune response genes in the alfalfa leafcutting bee. We identified 104 putative immunity-related genes from both healthy and pathogen-challenged bee larvae, and 12 more genes using PCR amplification. The genes identified coded for proteins with a wide variety of innate immune response functions, including pathogen recognition, phagocytosis, the prophenoloxidase cascade, melanization, coagulation and several signalling pathways. Some immune response genes were highly conserved with honey bee genes, and more distantly related to other insects. The data presented provides the first analysis of immune function in a solitary bee and provides a foundation for the further analysis of gene expression patterns in bees.
Utah State University, Department of Biology, North Logan, UT 84322-5310, USA.
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D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D015723:Gene Library; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics*; D055261:Immunogenetic Phenomena / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D017931:DNA Primers