10.1371/journal.ppat.1003083
James C. Bull
James
C. Bull
Eugene V. Ryabov
Eugene
V. Ryabov
Gill Prince
Gill
Prince
Andrew Mead
Andrew
Mead
Cunjin Zhang
Cunjin
Zhang
Laura A. Baxter
Laura
A. Baxter
Judith K. Pell
Judith
K. Pell
Juliet L. Osborne
Juliet L.
Osborne
Dave Chandler
Dave
Chandler
A Strong Immune Response in Young Adult Honeybees Masks Their Increased Susceptibility to Infection Compared to Older Bees
Public Library of Science
2012
honeybees
masks
susceptibility
compared
older
bees
2012-12-27 01:27:41
Dataset
https://plos.figshare.com/articles/dataset/A_Strong_Immune_Response_in_Young_Adult_Honeybees_Masks_Their_Increased_Susceptibility_to_Infection_Compared_to_Older_Bees__/115261
<div><p>Honeybees, <em>Apis mellifera</em>, show age-related division of labor in which young adults perform maintenance (“housekeeping”) tasks inside the colony before switching to outside foraging at approximately 23 days old. Disease resistance is an important feature of honeybee biology, but little is known about the interaction of pathogens and age-related division of labor. We tested a hypothesis that older forager bees and younger “house” bees differ in susceptibility to infection. We coupled an infection bioassay with a functional analysis of gene expression in individual bees using a whole genome microarray. Forager bees treated with the entomopathogenic fungus <em>Metarhizium anisopliae</em> s.l. survived for significantly longer than house bees. This was concomitant with substantial differences in gene expression including genes associated with immune function. In house bees, infection was associated with differential expression of 35 candidate immune genes contrasted with differential expression of only two candidate immune genes in forager bees. For control bees (i.e. not treated with <em>M. anisopliae</em>) the development from the house to the forager stage was associated with differential expression of 49 candidate immune genes, including up-regulation of the antimicrobial peptide gene <em>abaecin</em>, plus major components of the Toll pathway, serine proteases, and serpins. We infer that reduced pathogen susceptibility in forager bees was associated with age-related activation of specific immune system pathways. Our findings contrast with the view that the immunocompetence in social insects declines with the onset of foraging as a result of a trade-off in the allocation of resources for foraging. The up-regulation of immune-related genes in young adult bees in response to <em>M. anisopliae</em> infection was an indicator of disease susceptibility; this also challenges previous research in social insects, in which an elevated immune status has been used as a marker of increased disease resistance and fitness without considering the effects of age-related development.</p> </div>