Cargando…

RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee

Honey bees play an important agricultural and ecological role as pollinators of numerous agricultural crops and other plant species. Therefore, investigating the factors associated with high annual losses of honey bee colonies in the US is an important and active area of research. Pathogen incidence...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Brutscher, Laura M., Flenniken, Michelle L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4698999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26798663
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/941897
_version_ 1782408114842107904
author Brutscher, Laura M.
Flenniken, Michelle L.
author_facet Brutscher, Laura M.
Flenniken, Michelle L.
author_sort Brutscher, Laura M.
collection PubMed
description Honey bees play an important agricultural and ecological role as pollinators of numerous agricultural crops and other plant species. Therefore, investigating the factors associated with high annual losses of honey bee colonies in the US is an important and active area of research. Pathogen incidence and abundance correlate with Colony Collapse Disorder- (CCD-) affected colonies in the US and colony losses in the US and in some European countries. Honey bees are readily infected by single-stranded positive sense RNA viruses. Largely dependent on the host immune response, virus infections can either remain asymptomatic or result in deformities, paralysis, or death of adults or larvae. RNA interference (RNAi) is an important antiviral defense mechanism in insects, including honey bees. Herein, we review the role of RNAi in honey bee antiviral defense and highlight some parallels between insect and mammalian immune systems. A more thorough understanding of the role of pathogens on honey bee health and the immune mechanisms bees utilize to combat infectious agents may lead to the development of strategies that enhance honey bee health and result in the discovery of additional mechanisms of immunity in metazoans.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4698999
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Hindawi Publishing Corporation
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-46989992016-01-21 RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee Brutscher, Laura M. Flenniken, Michelle L. J Immunol Res Review Article Honey bees play an important agricultural and ecological role as pollinators of numerous agricultural crops and other plant species. Therefore, investigating the factors associated with high annual losses of honey bee colonies in the US is an important and active area of research. Pathogen incidence and abundance correlate with Colony Collapse Disorder- (CCD-) affected colonies in the US and colony losses in the US and in some European countries. Honey bees are readily infected by single-stranded positive sense RNA viruses. Largely dependent on the host immune response, virus infections can either remain asymptomatic or result in deformities, paralysis, or death of adults or larvae. RNA interference (RNAi) is an important antiviral defense mechanism in insects, including honey bees. Herein, we review the role of RNAi in honey bee antiviral defense and highlight some parallels between insect and mammalian immune systems. A more thorough understanding of the role of pathogens on honey bee health and the immune mechanisms bees utilize to combat infectious agents may lead to the development of strategies that enhance honey bee health and result in the discovery of additional mechanisms of immunity in metazoans. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015 2015-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC4698999/ /pubmed/26798663 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/941897 Text en Copyright © 2015 L. M. Brutscher and M. L. Flenniken. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Brutscher, Laura M.
Flenniken, Michelle L.
RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee
title RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee
title_full RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee
title_fullStr RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee
title_full_unstemmed RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee
title_short RNAi and Antiviral Defense in the Honey Bee
title_sort rnai and antiviral defense in the honey bee
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4698999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26798663
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/941897
work_keys_str_mv AT brutscherlauram rnaiandantiviraldefenseinthehoneybee
AT flennikenmichellel rnaiandantiviraldefenseinthehoneybee