title: Divergent forms of endoplasmic reticulum stress trigger a robust unfolded protein response in honey bees.
abstract: Honey bee colonies in the United States have suffered from an increased rate of die-off in recent years, stemming from a complex set of interacting stresses that remain poorly described. While we have some understanding of the physiological stress responses in the honey bee, our molecular understanding of honey bee cellular stress responses is incomplete. Thus, we sought to identify and began functional characterization of the components of the UPR in honey bees. The IRE1-dependent splicing of the mRNA for the transcription factor Xbp1, leading to translation of an isoform with more transactivation potential, represents the most conserved of the UPR pathways. Honey bees and other Apoidea possess unique features in the Xbp1 mRNA splice site, which we reasoned could have functional consequences for the IRE1 pathway. However, we find robust induction of target genes upon UPR stimulation. In addition, the IRE1 pathway activation, as assessed by splicing of Xbp1 mRNA upon UPR, is conserved. By providing foundational knowledge about the UPR in the honey bee and the relative sensitivity of this species to divergent stresses, this work stands to improve our understanding of the mechanistic underpinnings of honey bee health and disease.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027, USA; Biology Department, The City College of New York - CUNY, New York, NY 10031, USA.
authors.forename: Brittany A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; U1053 INSERM, Université de Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Katarzyna B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Hooks
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Mia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McKinstry
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027, USA. Electronic address: jsnow@barnard.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Snow
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000378:metabolism*; D059865:Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D014415:Tunicamycin; D056811:Unfolded Protein Response
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D014415:Tunicamycin
keywords: Cellular stress response; Endoplasmic reticulum; Honey bee; IRE1; Proteostasis; Unfolded protein response; Xbp1