Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.

Honey bee health is mainly affected by Varroa destructor, viruses, Nosema spp., pesticide residues and poor nutrition. Interactions between these proposed factors may be responsible for the colony losses reported worldwide in recent years. In the present study, the effects of a honey bee virus, Isra...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhiguo Li, Yanping Chen, Shaowu Zhang, Shenglu Chen, Wenfeng Li, Limin Yan, Liangen Shi, Lyman Wu, Alex Sohr, Songkun Su
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3795060?pdf=render
_version_ 1819092949705687040
author Zhiguo Li
Yanping Chen
Shaowu Zhang
Shenglu Chen
Wenfeng Li
Limin Yan
Liangen Shi
Lyman Wu
Alex Sohr
Songkun Su
author_facet Zhiguo Li
Yanping Chen
Shaowu Zhang
Shenglu Chen
Wenfeng Li
Limin Yan
Liangen Shi
Lyman Wu
Alex Sohr
Songkun Su
author_sort Zhiguo Li
collection DOAJ
description Honey bee health is mainly affected by Varroa destructor, viruses, Nosema spp., pesticide residues and poor nutrition. Interactions between these proposed factors may be responsible for the colony losses reported worldwide in recent years. In the present study, the effects of a honey bee virus, Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), on the foraging behaviors and homing ability of European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) were investigated based on proboscis extension response (PER) assays and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. The pollen forager honey bees originated from colonies that had no detectable level of honey bee viruses and were manually inoculated with IAPV to induce the viral infection. The results showed that IAPV-inoculated honey bees were more responsive to low sucrose solutions compared to that of non-infected foragers. After two days of infection, around 10⁷ copies of IAPV were detected in the heads of these honey bees. The homing ability of IAPV-infected foragers was depressed significantly in comparison to the homing ability of uninfected foragers. The data provided evidence that IAPV infection in the heads may enable the virus to disorder foraging roles of honey bees and to interfere with brain functions that are responsible for learning, navigation, and orientation in the honey bees, thus, making honey bees have a lower response threshold to sucrose and lose their way back to the hive.
first_indexed 2024-12-21T23:03:45Z
format Article
id doaj.art-7598f9b031ac4c26abe646466661dcf2
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1932-6203
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-21T23:03:45Z
publishDate 2013-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj.art-7598f9b031ac4c26abe646466661dcf22022-12-21T18:47:13ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-01810e7735410.1371/journal.pone.0077354Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.Zhiguo LiYanping ChenShaowu ZhangShenglu ChenWenfeng LiLimin YanLiangen ShiLyman WuAlex SohrSongkun SuHoney bee health is mainly affected by Varroa destructor, viruses, Nosema spp., pesticide residues and poor nutrition. Interactions between these proposed factors may be responsible for the colony losses reported worldwide in recent years. In the present study, the effects of a honey bee virus, Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), on the foraging behaviors and homing ability of European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) were investigated based on proboscis extension response (PER) assays and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. The pollen forager honey bees originated from colonies that had no detectable level of honey bee viruses and were manually inoculated with IAPV to induce the viral infection. The results showed that IAPV-inoculated honey bees were more responsive to low sucrose solutions compared to that of non-infected foragers. After two days of infection, around 10⁷ copies of IAPV were detected in the heads of these honey bees. The homing ability of IAPV-infected foragers was depressed significantly in comparison to the homing ability of uninfected foragers. The data provided evidence that IAPV infection in the heads may enable the virus to disorder foraging roles of honey bees and to interfere with brain functions that are responsible for learning, navigation, and orientation in the honey bees, thus, making honey bees have a lower response threshold to sucrose and lose their way back to the hive.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3795060?pdf=render
spellingShingle Zhiguo Li
Yanping Chen
Shaowu Zhang
Shenglu Chen
Wenfeng Li
Limin Yan
Liangen Shi
Lyman Wu
Alex Sohr
Songkun Su
Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.
PLoS ONE
title Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.
title_full Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.
title_fullStr Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.
title_full_unstemmed Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.
title_short Viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees, Apis mellifera L.
title_sort viral infection affects sucrose responsiveness and homing ability of forager honey bees apis mellifera l
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3795060?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT zhiguoli viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT yanpingchen viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT shaowuzhang viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT shengluchen viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT wenfengli viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT liminyan viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT liangenshi viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT lymanwu viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT alexsohr viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal
AT songkunsu viralinfectionaffectssucroseresponsivenessandhomingabilityofforagerhoneybeesapismelliferal