title: Nosema ceranae induced mortality in honey bees (Apis mellifera) depends on infection methods.
abstract: Nosema ceranae infection can reduce survival of the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, but experiments examining its virulence have highly variable results. This variation may arise from differences in experimental techniques. We examined survival effects of two techniques: Nosema infection at day 1 without anesthesia and infection at day 5 using CO2 anesthesia. All bees infected with the latter method had poorer survival. Interestingly, these bees also had significantly fewer spores than bees infected without anesthesia. These results indicate that differences in Nosema ceranae-induced mortality in honey bees may be partially due to differences in experimental techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, 243 Natural Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. milbrat2@msu.edu
authors.forename: Meghan O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Milbrath
authors.forename: Xianbing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Zachary Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000469:parasitology*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D056631:Colony Collapse / Q000469:parasitology; D016818:Nosema / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: Apis mellifera; Carbon dioxide; Microsporidian; Nosema ceranae