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Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Sex-related differences in susceptibility to pathogens are a common phenomenon in animals. In the eusocial Hymenoptera the two female castes, workers and queens, are diploid and males are haploid. The haploid susceptibility hypothesis predicts that haploid males are more susceptible to pathogen infe...

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Autores principales: Retschnig, Gina, Williams, Geoffrey R., Mehmann, Marion M., Yañez, Orlando, de Miranda, Joachim R., Neumann, Peter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894969/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24465518
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085261
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author Retschnig, Gina
Williams, Geoffrey R.
Mehmann, Marion M.
Yañez, Orlando
de Miranda, Joachim R.
Neumann, Peter
author_facet Retschnig, Gina
Williams, Geoffrey R.
Mehmann, Marion M.
Yañez, Orlando
de Miranda, Joachim R.
Neumann, Peter
author_sort Retschnig, Gina
collection PubMed
description Sex-related differences in susceptibility to pathogens are a common phenomenon in animals. In the eusocial Hymenoptera the two female castes, workers and queens, are diploid and males are haploid. The haploid susceptibility hypothesis predicts that haploid males are more susceptible to pathogen infections compared to females. Here we test this hypothesis using adult male (drone) and female (worker) honey bees (Apis mellifera), inoculated with the gut endoparasite Nosema ceranae and/or black queen cell virus (BQCV). These pathogens were chosen due to previously reported synergistic interactions between Nosema apis and BQCV. Our data do not support synergistic interactions between N. ceranae and BQCV and also suggest that BQCV has limited effect on both drone and worker health, regardless of the infection level. However, the data clearly show that, despite lower levels of N. ceranae spores in drones than in workers, Nosema-infected drones had both a higher mortality and a lower body mass than non-infected drones, across all treatment groups, while the mortality and body mass of worker bees were largely unaffected by N. ceranae infection, suggesting that drones are more susceptible to this pathogen than workers. In conclusion, the data reveal considerable sex-specific differences in pathogen susceptibility in honey bees and highlight the importance of ultimate measures for determining susceptibility, such as mortality and body quality, rather than mere infection levels.
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spelling pubmed-38949692014-01-24 Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Retschnig, Gina Williams, Geoffrey R. Mehmann, Marion M. Yañez, Orlando de Miranda, Joachim R. Neumann, Peter PLoS One Research Article Sex-related differences in susceptibility to pathogens are a common phenomenon in animals. In the eusocial Hymenoptera the two female castes, workers and queens, are diploid and males are haploid. The haploid susceptibility hypothesis predicts that haploid males are more susceptible to pathogen infections compared to females. Here we test this hypothesis using adult male (drone) and female (worker) honey bees (Apis mellifera), inoculated with the gut endoparasite Nosema ceranae and/or black queen cell virus (BQCV). These pathogens were chosen due to previously reported synergistic interactions between Nosema apis and BQCV. Our data do not support synergistic interactions between N. ceranae and BQCV and also suggest that BQCV has limited effect on both drone and worker health, regardless of the infection level. However, the data clearly show that, despite lower levels of N. ceranae spores in drones than in workers, Nosema-infected drones had both a higher mortality and a lower body mass than non-infected drones, across all treatment groups, while the mortality and body mass of worker bees were largely unaffected by N. ceranae infection, suggesting that drones are more susceptible to this pathogen than workers. In conclusion, the data reveal considerable sex-specific differences in pathogen susceptibility in honey bees and highlight the importance of ultimate measures for determining susceptibility, such as mortality and body quality, rather than mere infection levels. Public Library of Science 2014-01-17 /pmc/articles/PMC3894969/ /pubmed/24465518 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085261 Text en © 2014 Retschnig, et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Retschnig, Gina
Williams, Geoffrey R.
Mehmann, Marion M.
Yañez, Orlando
de Miranda, Joachim R.
Neumann, Peter
Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_full Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_fullStr Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_full_unstemmed Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_short Sex-Specific Differences in Pathogen Susceptibility in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_sort sex-specific differences in pathogen susceptibility in honey bees (apis mellifera)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894969/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24465518
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085261
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