Honey constituents up-regulate detoxification and immunity genes in the western honey bee Apis mellifera

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 May 28;110(22):8842-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1303884110. Epub 2013 Apr 29.

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.

Keywords: abaecin; cytochrome P450.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / metabolism
  • Bees / genetics
  • Bees / immunology*
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Colony Collapse / chemically induced*
  • Coumaphos / toxicity
  • Coumaric Acids / chemistry
  • Coumaric Acids / pharmacology*
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / genetics
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / metabolism
  • Flavanones / chemistry
  • Flavanones / pharmacology
  • Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects
  • Gene Expression Regulation / immunology*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Honey / analysis*
  • Inactivation, Metabolic / genetics
  • Inactivation, Metabolic / immunology*
  • Organophosphate Poisoning / immunology*
  • Pollen / chemistry
  • Propionates
  • Propolis / chemistry
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides
  • Coumaric Acids
  • Flavanones
  • Propionates
  • pinobanksin
  • pinocembrin
  • Propolis
  • Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System
  • p-coumaric acid
  • Coumaphos