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Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Nosema ceranae is a widespread obligate intracellular parasite of the ventriculus of many species of honey bee (Apis), including the Western honey bee Apis mellifera, in which it may lead to colony death. It can be controlled in A. mellifera by feeding the antibiotic fumagillin to a colony, though t...

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Autores principales: Mura, Alessandra, Pusceddu, Michelina, Theodorou, Panagiotis, Angioni, Alberto, Floris, Ignazio, Paxton, Robert J., Satta, Alberto
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075232
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11020124
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author Mura, Alessandra
Pusceddu, Michelina
Theodorou, Panagiotis
Angioni, Alberto
Floris, Ignazio
Paxton, Robert J.
Satta, Alberto
author_facet Mura, Alessandra
Pusceddu, Michelina
Theodorou, Panagiotis
Angioni, Alberto
Floris, Ignazio
Paxton, Robert J.
Satta, Alberto
author_sort Mura, Alessandra
collection PubMed
description Nosema ceranae is a widespread obligate intracellular parasite of the ventriculus of many species of honey bee (Apis), including the Western honey bee Apis mellifera, in which it may lead to colony death. It can be controlled in A. mellifera by feeding the antibiotic fumagillin to a colony, though this product is toxic to humans and its use has now been banned in many countries, so in beekeeping, there exists a need for alternative and safe products effective against N. ceranae. Honeybees produce propolis from resinous substances collected from plants and use it to protect their nest from parasites and pathogens; propolis is thought to decrease the microbial load of the hive. We hypothesized that propolis might also reduce N. ceranae infection of individual bees and that they might consume propolis as a form of self-medication. To test these hypotheses, we evaluated the effects of an ethanolic extract of propolis administered orally on the longevity and spore load of experimentally N. ceranae-infected worker bees and also tested whether infected bees were more attracted to, and consumed a greater proportion of, a diet containing propolis in comparison to uninfected bees. Propolis extracts and ethanol (solvent control) increased the lifespan of N. ceranae-infected bees, but only propolis extract significantly reduced spore load. Our propolis extract primarily contained derivatives of caffeic acid, ferulic acid, ellagic acid and quercetin. Choice, scan sampling and food consumption tests did not reveal any preference of N. ceranae-infected bees for commercial candy containing propolis. Our research supports the hypothesis that propolis represents an effective and safe product to control N. ceranae but worker bees seem not to use it to self-medicate when infected with this pathogen.
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spelling pubmed-70741842020-03-19 Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) Mura, Alessandra Pusceddu, Michelina Theodorou, Panagiotis Angioni, Alberto Floris, Ignazio Paxton, Robert J. Satta, Alberto Insects Article Nosema ceranae is a widespread obligate intracellular parasite of the ventriculus of many species of honey bee (Apis), including the Western honey bee Apis mellifera, in which it may lead to colony death. It can be controlled in A. mellifera by feeding the antibiotic fumagillin to a colony, though this product is toxic to humans and its use has now been banned in many countries, so in beekeeping, there exists a need for alternative and safe products effective against N. ceranae. Honeybees produce propolis from resinous substances collected from plants and use it to protect their nest from parasites and pathogens; propolis is thought to decrease the microbial load of the hive. We hypothesized that propolis might also reduce N. ceranae infection of individual bees and that they might consume propolis as a form of self-medication. To test these hypotheses, we evaluated the effects of an ethanolic extract of propolis administered orally on the longevity and spore load of experimentally N. ceranae-infected worker bees and also tested whether infected bees were more attracted to, and consumed a greater proportion of, a diet containing propolis in comparison to uninfected bees. Propolis extracts and ethanol (solvent control) increased the lifespan of N. ceranae-infected bees, but only propolis extract significantly reduced spore load. Our propolis extract primarily contained derivatives of caffeic acid, ferulic acid, ellagic acid and quercetin. Choice, scan sampling and food consumption tests did not reveal any preference of N. ceranae-infected bees for commercial candy containing propolis. Our research supports the hypothesis that propolis represents an effective and safe product to control N. ceranae but worker bees seem not to use it to self-medicate when infected with this pathogen. MDPI 2020-02-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7074184/ /pubmed/32075232 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11020124 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Mura, Alessandra
Pusceddu, Michelina
Theodorou, Panagiotis
Angioni, Alberto
Floris, Ignazio
Paxton, Robert J.
Satta, Alberto
Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_full Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_fullStr Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_full_unstemmed Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_short Propolis Consumption Reduces Nosema ceranae Infection of European Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
title_sort propolis consumption reduces nosema ceranae infection of european honey bees (apis mellifera)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075232
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11020124
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