Autophagy Is Required to Sustain Increased Intestinal Cell Proliferation during Phenotypic Plasticity Changes in Honey Bee (Apis mellifera).

Tissue phenotypic plasticity facilitates rapid adaptation of organisms to biotic and/or abiotic pressure. The reproductive capacity of honey bee workers (Apis mellifera) is plastic and responsive to pheromones produced by broods and the queen. Egg laying workers (ELWs), which could reactivate their ovaries and lay haploid eggs upon queen lost, have been commonly discussed from many aspects. However, it remains unclear whether midgut homeostasis in ELWs is affected during plastic changes. Here, we found that the expression of nutrition- and autophagy-related genes was up-regulated in the midguts of ELWs, compared with that in nurse workers (NWs) by RNA-sequencing. Furthermore, the area and number of autophagosomes were increased, along with significantly increased cell death in the midguts of ELWs. Moreover, cell cycle progression in the midguts of ELWs was increased compared with that in NWs. Consistent with the up-regulation of nutrition-related genes, the body and midgut sizes, and the number of intestinal proliferation cells of larvae reared with royal jelly (RJ) obviously increased more than those reared without RJ in vitro. Finally, cell proliferation was dramatically suppressed in the midguts of ELWs when autophagy was inhibited. Altogether, our data suggested that autophagy was induced and required to sustain cell proliferation in ELWs' midguts, thereby revealing the critical role of autophagy played in the intestines during phenotypic plasticity changes.

Antiviral Activities of a Medicinal Plant Extract Against Sacbrood Virus in Honeybees.

BACKGROUND: Sacbrood is an infectious disease of the honey bee caused by Scbrood virus (SBV) which belongs to the family Iflaviridae and is especially lethal for Asian honeybee Apis cerana. Chinese Sacbrood virus (CSBV) is a geographic strain of SBV. Currently, there is a lack of an effective antiviral agent for controlling CSBV infection in honey bees. METHODS: Here, we explored the antiviral effect of a Chinese medicinal herb Radix isatidis on CSBV infection in A. cerana by inoculating the 3rd instar larvae with purified CSBV and treating the infected bee larvae with R. isatidis extract at the same time. The growth, development, and survival of larvae between the control and treatment groups were compared. The CSBV copy number at the 4th instar, 5th instar, and 6th instar larvae was measured by the absolute quantification PCR method. RESULTS: Bioassays revealed that R. isatidis extract significantly inhibited the replication of CSBV, mitigated the impacts of CSBV on larval growth and development, reduced the mortality of CSBV-infected A. cerana larvae, and modulated the expression of immune transcripts in infected bees. CONCLUSION: Although the mechanism underlying the inhibition of CSBV replication by the medicine plant will require further investigation, this study demonstrated the antiviral activity of R. isatidis extract and provides a potential strategy for controlling SBV infection in honey bees.

Programmed Cell Death in the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Worker Brain Induced by Imidacloprid.

Honey bees are at an unavoidable risk of exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides, which are used worldwide. Compared with the well-studied roles of these pesticides in nontarget site (including midgut, ovary, or salivary glands), little has been reported in the target sites, the brain. In the current study, laboratory-reared adult worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) were treated with sublethal doses of imidacloprid. Neuronal apoptosis was detected using the TUNEL technique for DNA labeling. We observed significantly increased apoptotic markers in dose- and time-dependent manners in brains of bees exposed to imidacloprid. Neuronal activated caspase-3 and mRNA levels of caspase-1, as detected by immunofluorescence and real-time quantitative PCR, respectively, were significantly increased, suggesting that sublethal doses of imidacloprid may induce the caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway. Additionally, the overlap of apoptosis and autophagy in neurons was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. It further suggests that a relationship exists between neurotoxicity and behavioral changes induced by sublethal doses of imidacloprid, and that there is a need to determine reasonable limits for imidacloprid application in the field to protect pollinators.

Life-history stage determines the diet of ectoparasitic mites on their honey bee hosts.

Ectoparasitic mites of the genera Varroa and Tropilaelaps have evolved to exclusively exploit honey bees as food sources during alternating dispersal and reproductive life history stages. Here we show that the primary food source utilized by Varroa destructor depends on the host life history stage. While feeding on adult bees, dispersing V. destructor feed on the abdominal membranes to access to the fat body as reported previously. However, when V. destructor feed on honey bee pupae during their reproductive stage, they primarily consume hemolymph, indicated by wound analysis, preferential transfer of biostains, and a proteomic comparison between parasite and host tissues. Biostaining and proteomic results were paralleled by corresponding findings in Tropilaelaps mercedesae, a mite that only feeds on brood and has a strongly reduced dispersal stage. Metabolomic profiling of V. destructor corroborates differences between the diet of the dispersing adults and reproductive foundresses. The proteome and metabolome differences between reproductive and dispersing V. destructor suggest that the hemolymph diet coincides with amino acid metabolism and protein synthesis in the foundresses while the metabolism of non-reproductive adults is tuned to lipid metabolism. Thus, we demonstrate within-host dietary specialization of ectoparasitic mites that coincides with life history of hosts and parasites.

A New Isolated Fungus and Its Pathogenicity for Apis mellifera Brood in China.

In this article, we report the pathogenicity of a new strain of fungus, Rhizopus oryzae to honeybee larvae, isolated from the chalkbrood-diseased mummies of honeybee larvae and pupae collected from apiaries in China. Based on morphological observation and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region analyses, the isolated pathogenic fungus was identified as R. oryzae. Koch's postulates were performed to determine the cause-and-effect pathogenicity of this isolate fungus. The in vitro pathogenicity of this virulent fungus in honeybees was tested by artificially inoculating worker larvae in the lab. The pathogenicity of this new fungus for honeybee larvae was both conidial-concentration and exposure-time dependent; its highly infectious and virulent effect against the larvae was observed at 1 × 105 conidia/larva in vitro after 96 h of challenge. Using probit regression analysis, the LT50 value against the larvae was 26.8 h at a conidial concentration of 1 × 105 conidia/larva, and the LC50 was 6.2 × 103 conidia/larva. These results indicate that the new isolate of R. oryzae has considerable pathogenicity in honeybee larvae. Additionally, this report suggests that pathogenic phytofungi may harm their associated pollinators. We recommend further research to quantify the levels, mechanisms, and pathways of the pathogenicity of this novel isolated pathogen for honeybee larvae at the colony level.

Enantioselective toxicity of the neonicotinoid dinotefuran on honeybee (Apis mellifera) larvae.

The threat of neonicotinoids to insect pollinators, particularly honeybees (Apis mellifera), is a global concern, but the risk of chiral neonicotinoids to insect larvae remains poorly understood. In the current study, we evaluated the acute and chronic toxicity of dinotefuran enantiomers to honeybee larvae in vitro and explored the mechanism of toxicity. The results showed that the acute median lethal dose (LD50) of S-dinotefuran to honeybee larvae was 30.0 µg/larva after oral exposure for 72 h, which was more toxic than rac-dinotefuran (92.7 µg/larva) and R-dinotefuran (183.6 µg/larva). Although the acute toxicity of the three forms of dinotefuran to larvae was lower than that to adults, chronic exposure significantly reduced larval survival, larval weight, and weight of newly emerged adults. Analysis of gene expression and hormone titer indicated that dinotefuran affects larval growth and development by interfering with nutrient digestion and absorption and the molting system. Analysis of hemolymph metabolome further revealed that disturbances in the neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathway and energy metabolism are the key mechanisms of dinotefuran toxicity to bee larvae. In addition, melatonin and vitellogenin are used by larvae to cope with dinotefuran-induced oxidative stress. Our results contribute to a comprehensive understanding of dinotefuran damage to bees and provide new insights into the mechanism of enantioselective toxicity of insecticides to insect larvae.

Toxic effects of acaricide fenazaquin on development, hemolymph metabolome, and gut microbiome of honeybee (Apis mellifera) larvae.

Fenazaquin, a potent insecticide widely used to control phytophagous mites, has recently emerged as a potential solution for managing Varroa destructor mites in honeybees. However, the comprehensive impact of fenazaquin on honeybee health remains insufficiently understood. Our current study investigated the acute and chronic toxicity of fenazaquin to honeybee larvae, along with its influence on larval hemolymph metabolism and gut microbiota. Results showed that the acute median lethal dose (LD50) of fenazaquin for honeybee larvae was 1.786 µg/larva, and the chronic LD50 was 1.213 µg/larva. Although chronic exposure to low doses of fenazaquin exhibited no significant effect on larval development, increasing doses of fenazaquin resulted in significant increases in larval mortality, developmental time, and deformity rates. At the metabolic level, high doses of fenazaquin inhibited nucleotide, purine, and lipid metabolism pathways in the larval hemolymph, leading to energy metabolism disorders and physiological dysfunction. Furthermore, high doses of fenazaquin reduced gut microbial diversity and abundance, characterized by decreased relative abundance of functional gut bacterium Lactobacillus kunkeei and increased pathogenic bacterium Melissococcus plutonius. The disrupted gut microbiota, combined with the observed gut tissue damage, could potentially impair food digestion and nutrient absorption in the larvae. Our results provide valuable insights into the complex and diverse effects of fenazaquin on honeybee larvae, establishing an important theoretical basis for applying fenazaquin in beekeeping.

Proteomics profiling of the honeybee parasite Tropilaelaps mercedesae across post-embryonic development.

Tropilaelaps mercedesae, an ectoparasitic mite of honeybees, is currently a severe health risk to Apis mellifera colonies in Asia and a potential threat to the global apiculture industry. However, our understanding of the physiological and developmental regulation of this pest remains significantly insufficient. Using ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry, we provide the first comprehensive proteomic profile of T. mercedesae spanning its entire post-embryonic ontogeny, including protonymphs, deutonymphs, mature adults, and reproductive mites. Consequently, a total of 4,422 T. mercedesae proteins were identified, of which 2,189 proteins were significantly differentially expressed (FDR < 0.05) throughout development and maturation. Our proteomic data provide an important resource for understanding the biology of T. mercedesae, and will contribute to further research and effective control of this devastating honeybee pest.

Group size influences maternal provisioning and compensatory larval growth in honeybees.

Environmental variation selects for the adaptive plasticity of maternal provisioning. Even though developing honeybees find themselves in a protected colony environment, their reproductively specialized queens actively adjust their maternal investment, even among worker-destined eggs. However, the potentially adaptive consequences of this flexible provisioning strategy and their mechanistic basis are unknown. Under natural conditions, we find that the body size of larvae hatching from small eggs in large colonies converges with that of initially larger larvae hatching from large eggs typically produced in small colonies. However, large eggs confer a persistent body size advantage when small and large eggs are cross-fostered in small and large colonies, respectively. We substantiate the increased maternal investment by identifying growth-promoting metabolomes and proteomes in large eggs compared to small eggs, which are primarily enriched in amino acid metabolism and cell maturation. Thus, our study provides a comprehensive adaptive explanation for the worker egg size plasticity of honeybees.

Nationwide genomic surveillance reveals the prevalence and evolution of honeybee viruses in China.

BACKGROUND: The economic and environmental value of honeybees has been severely challenged in recent years by the collapse of their colonies worldwide, often caused by outbreaks of infectious diseases. However, our understanding of the diversity, prevalence, and transmission of honeybee viruses is largely obscure due to a lack of large-scale and longitudinal genomic surveillance on a global scale. RESULTS: We report the meta-transcriptomic sequencing of nearly 2000 samples of the two most important economic and widely maintained honeybee species, as well as an associated ectoparasite mite, collected across China during 2016-2019. We document the natural diversity and evolution of honeybee viruses in China, providing evidence that multiple viruses commonly co-circulate within individual bee colonies. We also expanded the genomic data for 12 important honeybee viruses and revealed novel genetic variants and lineages associated with China. We identified more than 23 novel viruses from the honeybee and mite viromes, with some exhibiting ongoing replication in their respective hosts. Together, these data provide additional support to the idea that mites are an important reservoir and spill-over host for honeybee viruses. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that honeybee viruses are more widespread, prevalent, and genetically diverse than previously realized. The information provided is important in mitigating viral infectious diseases in honeybees, in turn helping to maintain sustainable productive agriculture on a global scale. Video Abstract.

Virome Analysis Reveals Diverse and Divergent RNA Viruses in Wild Insect Pollinators in Beijing, China.

Insect pollinators provide major pollination services for wild plants and crops. Honeybee viruses can cause serious damage to honeybee colonies. However, viruses of other wild pollinating insects have yet to be fully explored. In the present study, we used RNA sequencing to investigate the viral diversity of 50 species of wild pollinating insects. A total of 3 pathogenic honeybee viruses, 8 previously reported viruses, and 26 novel viruses were identified in sequenced samples. Among these, 7 novel viruses were shown to be closely related to honeybee pathogenic viruses, and 4 were determined to have potential pathogenicity for their hosts. The viruses detected in wild insect pollinators were mainly from the order Picornavirales and the families Orthomyxoviridae, Sinhaliviridae, Rhabdoviridae, and Flaviviridae. Our study expanded the species range of known insect pollinator viruses, contributing to future efforts to protect economic honeybees and wild pollinating insects.

StcU-2 Gene Mutation via CRISPR/Cas9 Leads to Misregulation of Spore-Cyst Formation in Ascosphaera apis.

Ascosphaera apis is the causative agent of honey bee chalkbrood disease, and spores are the only known source of infections. Interference with sporulation is therefore a promising way to manage A. apis. The versicolorin reductase gene (StcU-2) is a ketoreductase protein related to sporulation and melanin biosynthesis. To study the StcU-2 gene in ascospore production of A. apis, CRISPR/Cas9 was used, and eight hygromycin B antibiotic-resistant transformants incorporating enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) were made and analyzed. PCR amplification, gel electrophoresis, and sequence analysis were used for target gene editing analysis and verification. The CRISPR/Cas9 editing successfully knocked out the StcU-2 gene in A. apis. StcU-2 mutants had shown albino and non-functional spore-cyst development and lost effective sporulation. In conclusion, editing of StcU-2 gene has shown direct relation with sporulation and melanin biosynthesis of A. apis; this effective sporulation reduction would reduce the spread and pathogenicity of A. apis to managed honey bee. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing has been efficiently performed in A. apis, a fungal honey bee brood pathogen, which offers a comprehensive set of procedural references that contributes to A. apis gene function studies and consequent control of chalkbrood disease.

The molecular basis of socially induced egg-size plasticity in honey bees.

Reproduction involves the investment of resources into offspring. Although variation in reproductive effort often affects the number of offspring, adjustments of propagule size are also found in numerous species, including the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera. However, the proximate causes of these adjustments are insufficiently understood, especially in oviparous species with complex social organization in which adaptive evolution is shaped by kin selection. Here, we show in a series of experiments that queens predictably and reversibly increase egg size in small colonies and decrease egg size in large colonies, while their ovary size changes in the opposite direction. Additional results suggest that these effects cannot be solely explained by egg-laying rate and are due to the queens' perception of colony size. Egg-size plasticity is associated with quantitative changes of 290 ovarian proteins, most of which relate to energy metabolism, protein transport, and cytoskeleton. Based on functional and network analyses, we further study the small GTPase Rho1 as a candidate regulator of egg size. Spatio-temporal expression analysis via RNAscope and qPCR supports an important role of Rho1 in egg-size determination, and subsequent RNAi-mediated gene knockdown confirmed that Rho1 has a major effect on egg size in honey bees. These results elucidate how the social environment of the honey bee colony may be translated into a specific cellular process to adjust maternal investment into eggs. It remains to be studied how widespread this mechanism is and whether it has consequences for population dynamics and epigenetic influences on offspring phenotype in honey bees and other species.

Honey bees are social insects that live in large colonies containing tens of thousands of individuals. The vast majority of bees are sterile females known as worker bees. They perform most of the activities essential for the survival of the colony, including foraging for pollen and nectar and taking care of eggs and larvae. An individual known as the queen bee is the mother of the colony and is normally the only female who reproduces. She has two massive ovaries and can produce up to two thousand eggs per day. Previous studies indicate that the number and size of the eggs vary according to the conditions inside the colony and in the surrounding environment. Larger eggs contain more nutrients so the resulting embryos may have a better chance of survival. However, producing bigger eggs requires the queen to invest more resources, which is costly to the colony as a whole. It remains unclear which mechanisms regulate the size of honey bee eggs. To address this question, Han, Wei, Amiri et al. carried out a series of experiments on the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera. The experiments showed that queen bees in small colonies had smaller ovaries and produced bigger eggs than those in large colonies. The difference in egg size appeared to be due to the queen bee's perception of the size of the colony, rather than its actual size. An approach called proteomics revealed that 290 ovarian proteins were produced at different levels in big-egg producing ovaries compared to small-egg producing ovaries. Further experiments suggested that a protein known as Rho1 regulates the size of the eggs the queen bees produce. These findings provide an explanation for how the social environment of the Western honey bee colony may influence the queen bee's reproductive investment at the molecular level. Further studies to confirm and expand on this work may help to improve honey bee health and also contribute to our general understanding of this life stage in bees and other insects.

Significant transcriptional changes in mature daughter Varroa destructor mites during infestation of different developmental stages of honeybees.

BACKGROUND: Varroa destructor is considered a major cause of honeybee (Apis mellifera) colony losses worldwide. Although V. destructor mites exhibit preference behavior for certain honeybee lifecycle stages, the mechanism underlying host finding and preference remains largely unknown. RESULTS: By using a de novo transcriptome assembly strategy, we sequenced the mature daughter V. destructor mite transcriptome during infestation of different stages of honeybees (brood cells, newly emerged bees and adult bees). A total of 132 779 unigenes were obtained with an average length of 2745 bp and N50 of 5706 bp. About 63.1% of the transcriptome could be annotated based on sequence homology to the predatory mite Metaseiulus occidentalis proteins. Expression analysis revealed that mature daughter mites had distinct transcriptome profiles after infestation of different honeybee stages, and that the majority of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of mite infesting adult honeybees were down-regulated compared to that infesting the sealed brood cells. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses showed that a large number of DEGs were involved in cellular process and metabolic process, suggesting that Varroa mites undergo metabolic adjustment to accommodate the cellular, molecular and/or immune response of the honeybees. Interestingly, in adult honeybees, some mite DEGs involved in neurotransmitter biosynthesis and transport were identified and their levels of expression were validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). CONCLUSION: These results provide evidence for transcriptional reprogramming in mature daughter Varroa mites during infestation of honeybees, which may be relevant to understanding the mechanism underpinning adaptation and preference behavior of these mites for honeybees. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Transcriptome profiling reveals insertional mutagenesis suppressed the expression of candidate pathogenicity genes in honeybee fungal pathogen, Ascosphaera apis.

Chalkbrood disease is caused by Ascosphaera apis which severely affects honeybee brood. Spore inoculation experiments shown pathogenicity varies among different strains and mutants, however, the molecular mechanism of pathogenicity is unclear. We sequenced, assembled and annotated the transcriptomes of wild type (SPE1) and three mutants (SPE2, SPE3 and SPE4) with reduced pathogenicity that were constructed in our previous study. Illumina sequencing generated a total of 394,910,604 clean reads and de novo Trinity-based assembled into 12,989 unigenes, among these, 9,598 genes were successfully annotated to known proteins in UniProt database. A total of 172, 3,996, and 650 genes were up-regulated and 4,403, 2,845, and 3,016 genes were down-regulated between SPE2-SPE1, SPE3-SPE1, and SPE4-SPE1, respectively. Overall, several genes with a potential role in fungal pathogenicity were detected down-regulated in mutants including 100 hydrolytic enzymes, 117 transcriptional factors, and 47 cell wall related genes. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis reveals 216 genes involved in nine pathways were down-regulated in mutants compared to wild type. The down-regulation of more pathways involved in pathogenicity in SPE2 and SPE4 than SPE3 supports their lower pathogenicity during in-vitro bioassay experiment. Expression of 12 down-regulated genes in mutants was validated by quantitative real time PCR. This study provides valuable information on transcriptome variation caused by mutation for further functional validation of candidate pathogenicity genes in A. apis.

Transcriptome Sequencing Analysis Provides Insights Into the Response to Fusarium oxysporum in Lilium pumilum.

Lily basal rot, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lilii, is one of the most serious diseases of lily. Although the lily germplasm which is resistant to F. oxysporum has been used in disease-resistant breeding, few studies on its molecular mechanism of disease resistance have been reported. To comprehensively study the mechanism of resistance to F. oxysporum, transcriptome sequencings of root tissues from Lilium pumilum inoculated with F. oxysporum or sterile water for 6, 12, or 24 h were performed. A total of 50 GB of data were obtained from the transcriptome sequencings of the 6 L. pumilum samples, and 217 098 Unigenes were obtained after the de novo assembly, of which 38.36% Unigenes were annotated. The sequencing results showed that the numbers of differentially expressed genes at 6, 12, and 24 h after inoculation compared with the control were 111, 254, and 2500, respectively. The functional enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed genes showed that several pathways were involved in responses of L. pumilum, mainly including starch and sucrose metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, plant hormone signal transduction, flavonoid biosynthesis, vitamin B6 (VB6) biosynthesis, acid biosynthesis, proteasome, and ribosome. Transcription factor analysis revealed that the WRKY and ERF families played important roles in responses of L. pumilum to F. oxysporum. The results of this study elucidate the molecular responses to F. oxysporum in lily and lay a theoretical foundation for improving lily breeding and strategies for lily basal rot resistance.

Characterization of Conserved and Novel microRNAs in Lilium lancifolium Thunb. by High-Throughput Sequencing.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are among the class of noncoding small RNA molecules and play a crucial role in post-transcriptional regulation in plants. Although Lilium is one of the most popular ornamental flowers worldwide, however, there is no report on miRNAs identification. In the present study, therefore, miRNAs and their targets were identified from flower, leaf, bulblet and bulb of Lilium lancifolium Thunb. by high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. In this study, a total of 38 conserved miRNAs belonging to 17 miRNA families and 44 novel miRNAs were identified. In total, 366 target genes for conserved miRNAs and 415 target genes for novel miRNAs were predicted. The majority of the target genes for conserved miRNAs were transcriptional factors and novel miRNAs targeted mainly protein coding genes. A total of 53 cleavage sites belonging to 6 conserved miRNAs families and 14 novel miRNAs were identified using degradome sequencing. Twenty-three miRNAs were randomly selected, then, their credibility was confirmed using northern blot or stem-loop qRT-PCR. The results from qRT-PCR analysis showed the expression pattern of 4 LL-miRNAs was opposite to their targets. Therefore, our finding provides an important basis to understand the biological functions of miRNAs in Lilium.

Purification of Chinese Sacbrood Virus (CSBV), Gene Cloning and Prokaryotic Expression of its Structural Protein VP1.

The aim of this study was to purify the Chinese Sacbrood Virus Beijing Miyun (BJMY-CSBV) from infected Apis cerana larvae, clone structural protein gene VP1 (named BJMY-CSBV-VP1), and investigate its biological information. The result indicated that the capsid of CSBV is of spherical shape. Gene clone experiment showed that the BJMY-CSBV-VP1 gene sequence comprised 945 bp, encoding 315 amino acids with relative molecular weight of 35.59 kDa and isoelectric point 9.38 pI. Phylogenetic analysis of amino acid sequences showed that the BJMY-CSBV-VP1 and LNDD_2015 were grouped together. Protein secondary structure prediction showed that the gene contained two α-helices, thirteen ß-folds, six polypeptide binding sites, and no disulfide bridge. Simultaneously, the BJMY-CSBV-VP1 was ligated to the expression vector pET32a(+) and then transformed into the Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) for prokaryotic expression. The optimal expression experiment revealed that the protein was found in the inclusion body. The recombinant protein was successfully purified by washing buffer combined with supersonic fragmentation. In this study, we obtained the purified BJMY-CSBV particles, cloned BJMY-CSBV-VP1 gene, investigated the detailed information of the gene by analyzing the sequence, and obtained the purified recombinant protein, which could help for further understanding of the function of the structural protein gene VP1.

Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of the Asian honeybee Apis cerana provides novel insights into honeybee biology.

The Asian honeybee Apis cerana is one of two bee species that have been commercially kept with immense economic value. Here we present the analysis of genomic sequence and transcriptomic exploration for A. cerana as well as the comparative genomic analysis of the Asian honeybee and the European honeybee A. mellifera. The genome and RNA-seq data yield new insights into the behavioral and physiological resistance to the parasitic mite Varroa the evolution of antimicrobial peptides, and the genetic basis for labor division in A. cerana. Comparison of genes between the two sister species revealed genes specific to A. cerana, 54.5% of which have no homology to any known proteins. The observation that A. cerana displayed significantly more vigilant grooming behaviors to the presence of Varroa than A. mellifera in conjunction with gene expression analysis suggests that parasite-defensive grooming in A. cerana is likely triggered not only by exogenous stimuli through visual and olfactory detection of the parasite, but also by genetically endogenous processes that periodically activates a bout of grooming to remove the ectoparasite. This information provides a valuable platform to facilitate the traits unique to A. cerana as well as those shared with other social bees for health improvement.

Degradation of cyanide by Trichoderma mutants constructed by restriction enzyme mediated integration (REMI).

REMI technique was used to construct mutants with improved cyanide-degradation ability from biocontrol fungus Trichoderma koningii strain T30. The plasmid pV2 transformation was confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analysis. Out of 21 transformants, 15 single-copied transformants (71.4%) were found. To compare enzyme activities of rhodanese and cyanide hydratase, T. atroviride T23, T. harzianum T21 and their transformants constructed by REMI previously were also included. Transformants TkB6 (0.173 micromols thiocyanate formed min(-1)mg protein(-1)) from T30 and TaK1 (0.174 micromols thiocyanate formed min(-1)mg protein(-1)) from T23 showed higher rhodanese activity than other transformants and their wild strains. TkA9 (5.53 micromols formamide formed h(-1)mg protein(-1)) from T30 and Th64 (5.35 micromols formamide formed h(-1)mg protein(-1)) from T21 had higher cyanide hydratase activity than other transformants and their wild strains.