Lipophagy plays an important role in regulating lipid metabolism in mammals. The exact function of autophagy-related protein 2 (Atg2) has been investigated in mammals, but research on the existence and functions of Atg2 in Apis mellifera (AmAtg2) is still limited. Here, autophagy occurred in honeybee pupae, which targeted lipid droplets (LDs) in fat body, namely lipophagy, which was verified by co-localization of LDs with microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B light chain 3 beta (LC3). Moreover, AmAtg2 homolog B (AmAtg2B) was expressed specifically in pupal fat body, which indicated that AmAtg2B might have special function in fat body. Further, AmAtg2B antibody neutralization and AmAtg2B knock-down were undertaken to verify the functions in pupae. Results showed that low expression of AmAtg2B at the protein and transcriptional levels led to lipophagy inhibition, which down-regulated the expression levels of proteins and genes related to lipolysis. Altogether, results in this study systematically revealed that AmAtg2B interfered with lipophagy and then caused abnormal lipolysis in the pupal stage.
Keywords: LDs; autophagy; development; fat bodies; honey bees.