title: Correlation of proteome-wide changes with social immunity behaviors provides insight into resistance to the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, in the honey bee (Apis mellifera).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Disease is a major factor driving the evolution of many organisms. In honey bees, selection for social behavioral responses is the primary adaptive process facilitating disease resistance. One such process, hygienic behavior, enables bees to resist multiple diseases, including the damaging parasitic mite Varroa destructor. The genetic elements and biochemical factors that drive the expression of these adaptations are currently unknown. Proteomics provides a tool to identify proteins that control behavioral processes, and these proteins can be used as biomarkers to aid identification of disease tolerant colonies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We sampled a large cohort of commercial queen lineages, recording overall mite infestation, hygiene, and the specific hygienic response to V. destructor. We performed proteome-wide correlation analyses in larval integument and adult antennae, identifying several proteins highly predictive of behavior and reduced hive infestation. In the larva, response to wounding was identified as a key adaptive process leading to reduced infestation, and chitin biosynthesis and immune responses appear to represent important disease resistant adaptations. The speed of hygienic behavior may be underpinned by changes in the antenna proteome, and chemosensory and neurological processes could also provide specificity for detection of V. destructor in antennae.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results provide, for the first time, some insight into how complex behavioural adaptations manifest in the proteome of honey bees. The most important biochemical correlations provide clues as to the underlying molecular mechanisms of social and innate immunity of honey bees. Such changes are indicative of potential divergence in processes controlling the hive-worker maturation.
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia, Centre for High-Throughput Biology and Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Vancouver, BC, V6T 14, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: M Marta
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Guarna
authors.forename: Andony P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Melathopoulos
authors.forename: Kyung-Mee
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Huxter
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Pernal
authors.forename: Leonard J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Foster
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D057506:Arthropod Antennae / Q000737:chemistry; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology; D002686:Chitin / Q000096:biosynthesis; D060467:Disease Resistance; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007814:Larva / Q000737:chemistry; D020543:Proteome / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D057077:Varroidae / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D020543:Proteome; D002686:Chitin