Honey Bee Proteome Responses to Plant and Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) Diets

Abstract

Malnutrition is an increasing threat to honey bees that can be mitigated by feeding artificial pollen substitute diets; however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying their impact on bee health. Here, we examined proteomic responses to natural and artificial diets in the honey bee fat body, a tissue with central nutrient storage and metabolic functions. Bees were fed protein diets of natural pollen, a commercial plant-based diet used by beekeepers that does not contain pollen (Ultra Bee), and two novel cyanobacteria diets comprising dried or fresh laboratory-grown Arthrospira platensis (commonly, spirulina). Relative to a protein-free control group, diet consumption elicited broad upregulation of metabolic processes associated with amino acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. Plant and cyanobacteria diets led to equivalent dietary protein assimilation and a marked overlap in proteome expression patterns, indicative of comparable nutritive and metabolic impacts. This was corroborated by equivalent titers of the storage lipoprotein vitellogenin and nutritionally-regulated stress response proteins (superoxide dismutase, glutathione Stransferase 1, catalase, and heat shock protein 90). The tested diets recapitulated the proteomic effects of a natural pollen diet and support stress resistance via improved nutritional status. Our results provide new insights into the impact of artificial feed on honey bees and highlight the potential of cyanobacterial biomass as a sustainable nutrition source for improving bee health.

Metabolomics-Guided Comparison of Pollen and Microalgae-Based Artificial Diets in Honey Bees

“…These results are consistent with our previous observations that bees consume less microalgae than pollen in similar experimental designs. 29,33,39 Bees fed sugar had the lowest head weights, but there were no differences between bees fed pollen and microalgae (P = 0.0013). Similarly, the sugar diet produced the lowest thorax weights (P < 0.0001), but there were no differences among pollen-,Chlorella-, or spirulina-fed bees (Figure 2).…”

“…Approximately, 1.25 g of formulated diet paste was provided to each cage. The pollen and spirulina diets used in this study were characterized for amino acid content and protein bioavailability previously. , The amount of diet consumed by each cage was recorded on day 4, then the diet was refreshed with approximately 1.25 g of new diet paste, and consumption was measured again on day 8. As a control, diet samples were placed in cages without bees and weight loss was measured to determine the evaporation rate for each diet type.…”

Synthetic Hexadecapeptide Prevents Postharvest Pectobacterium carotovorum (subsp. brasiliensis BC1) Infection via Destabilizing Cell Envelope and Suppressing Biosynthesis of Arginine and Peptidoglycan

“…The response of an organism to surrounding environments or exogenous substances can often be analyzed through proteomics . Here, this method was applied to evaluate how Pectobacterium carotovorum cells being affected in the presence of peptide zp16 .…”

“…The response of an organism to surrounding environments or exogenous substances can often be analyzed through proteomics. 28 Here, this method was applied to evaluate how Pectobacterium carotovorum cells being affected in the presence of peptide zp16. As shown in Figure 8A, the heatmap demonstrated that the three replicates of both the zp16 treatment and control groups have reasonable reproducibility.…”

Bee Stressors from an Immunological Perspective and Strategies to Improve Bee Health

“…Honeybee food supplements can boost the health of colonies and minimize the impact of stressors during pollen foraging unavailable periods [ 152 ]. Artificial food supplements using fresh and dry Cyanobacteria, Arthrospira platensis , exhibited a marked overlap in proteome expression patterns and similar dietary protein absorption, similar to natural pollen [ 153 ]. Chlorella sorokiniana played a role in bees development via increased fat deposition, Vg transcript levels, decreased target of rapamycin, and InR2 transcript levels [ 154 ].…”