title: Honey constituents up-regulate detoxification and immunity genes in the western honey bee Apis mellifera.
abstract: As a managed pollinator, the honey bee Apis mellifera is critical to the American agricultural enterprise. Recent colony losses have thus raised concerns; possible explanations for bee decline include nutritional deficiencies and exposures to pesticides and pathogens. We determined that constituents found in honey, including p-coumaric acid, pinocembrin, and pinobanksin 5-methyl ether, specifically induce detoxification genes. These inducers are primarily found not in nectar but in pollen in the case of p-coumaric acid (a monomer of sporopollenin, the principal constituent of pollen cell walls) and propolis, a resinous material gathered and processed by bees to line wax cells. RNA-seq analysis (massively parallel RNA sequencing) revealed that p-coumaric acid specifically up-regulates all classes of detoxification genes as well as select antimicrobial peptide genes. This up-regulation has functional significance in that that adding p-coumaric acid to a diet of sucrose increases midgut metabolism of coumaphos, a widely used in-hive acaricide, by ∼60%. As a major component of pollen grains, p-coumaric acid is ubiquitous in the natural diet of honey bees and may function as a nutraceutical regulating immune and detoxification processes. The widespread apicultural use of honey substitutes, including high-fructose corn syrup, may thus compromise the ability of honey bees to cope with pesticides and pathogens and contribute to colony losses.
authors: Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors: Wenfu
authors: W
authors: Mao
authors: Mary A
authors: MA
authors: Schuler
authors: May R
authors: MR
authors: Berenbaum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D056631:Colony Collapse / Q000139:chemically induced*; D003372:Coumaphos / Q000633:toxicity; D003373:Coumaric Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D044950:Flavanones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D008658:Inactivation, Metabolic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D062025:Organophosphate Poisoning / Q000276:immunology*; D011058:Pollen / Q000737:chemistry; D011422:Propionates; D011429:Propolis / Q000737:chemistry; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D003373:Coumaric Acids; D044950:Flavanones; D011422:Propionates; C108261:pinobanksin; C016063:pinocembrin; D011429:Propolis; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; C495469:p-coumaric acid; D003372:Coumaphos
keywords: abaecin; cytochrome P450
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