The digestion of dandelion pollen by adult worker honeybees

Peng, Ying; Nasr, Medhat E.; Marston, Jerry M.; Fang, Yuenzhen

doi:10.1111/j.1365-3032.1985.tb00021.x

Cited by 57 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…A previous study found that feeding a pollen-free diet for 24 hours results in digestion of previously consumed pollen. 56 In agreement, we have found that bees fed a pollen-free diet for 24 hours have negligible numbers of intact pollen grains in their midgut contents (data not shown) and very low levels of pollen-derived miRNA (Fig. S2A).…”

Section: Negligible Transfer Of Diet-derived Mirna To Internal Tissuesupporting

confidence: 84%

Negligible uptake and transfer of diet-derived pollen microRNAs in adult honey bees

et al. 2015

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The putative transfer and gene regulatory activities of diet-derived miRNAs in ingesting animals are still debated. Importantly, no study to date has fully examined the role of dietary uptake of miRNA in the honey bee, a critical pollinator in both agricultural and natural ecosystems. After controlled pollen feeding experiments in adult honey bees, we observed that midguts demonstrated robust increases in plant miRNAs after pollen ingestion. However, we found no evidence of biologically relevant delivery of these molecules to proximal or distal tissues of recipient honey bees. Our results, therefore, support the premise that pollen miRNAs ingested as part of a typical diet are not robustly transferred across barrier epithelia of adult honey bees under normal conditions. Key future questions include whether other small RNA species in honey bee diets behave similarly and whether more specialized and specific delivery mechanisms exist for more efficient transport, particularly in the context of stressed barrier epithelia.

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Section: Negligible Transfer Of Diet-derived Mirna To Internal Tissuesupporting

confidence: 84%

Negligible uptake and transfer of diet-derived pollen microRNAs in adult honey bees

et al. 2015

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“…The extent of pollen digestion is also an important factor in comparing the nutritional value of different pollens to bees (Peng et al, 1985;. For honeybee workers collected from sunflower fields, we have previously recorded an extraction efficiency, adjusted for the empty grains in fresh pollen, of 69% (Human et al 2007).…”

Section: Genotypic Differences Have Been Recorded In Nectar Productiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical composition of the ‘low quality’ pollen of sunflower (Helianthus annuus, Asteraceae)

2012

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-The nutritional needs of bees are receiving renewed attention in the context of declining bee populations and changes in land use that threaten floral resources. We present a comprehensive analysis of the nutritional composition of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) pollen, comparing hand-collected, bee-collected and stored pollen. As found in previous studies, the protein content of sunflower pollen was relatively low compared to other important bee forage plants. In the cultivars tested two essential amino acids, methionine and tryptophan, are likely to be below the minimum requirements for honeybees. Fatty acid composition showed lauric acid to be most abundant, followed by palmitic and α-linolenic acids. While sunflower offers abundant and accessible pollen, its quality may hinder bee development when it is an exclusive pollen source, and the cultivars of such mass-flowering crops may vary in value for pollinators.

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“…To what extent these processes involve pollen-specific enzymes is not known. Interestingly, an important proportion of the pollen grains of Taraxacum were found to be still intact in the feces of adult honey bee workers (Peng et al 1985), leading to the conclusion that Taraxacum pollen grains could not be completely emptied by the honey bee. The failure of C. rapunculi, C. florisomne, and H. adunca to develop on Asteraceae pollen might be related to similar difficulties in extracting nutrients from the pollen protoplasm.…”

Section: Extraction Of Pollen Nutrientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specialized Bees Fail to Develop on Non-Host Pollen: Do Plants Chemically Protect Their Pollen

Praz

Müller

Dorn

2008

Ecology

194

211

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Bees require large amounts of pollen for their own reproduction. While several morphological flower traits are known to have evolved to protect plants against excessive pollen harvesting by bees, little is known on how selection to minimize pollen loss acts on the chemical composition of pollen. In this study, we traced the larval development of four solitary bee species, each specialized on a different pollen source, when reared on non-host pollen by transferring unhatched eggs of one species onto the pollen provisions of another species. Pollen diets of Asteraceae and Ranunculus (Ranunculaceae) proved to be inadequate for all bee species tested except those specialized on these plants. Further, pollen of Sinapis (Brassicaceae) and Echium (Boraginaceae) failed to support larval development in one bee species specialized on Campanula (Campanulaceae). Our results strongly suggest that pollen of these four taxonomic groups possess protective properties that hamper digestion and thus challenge the general view of pollen as an easy-to-use protein source for flower visitors.

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The digestion of dandelion pollen by adult worker honeybees

Cited by 57 publications

References 15 publications

Negligible uptake and transfer of diet-derived pollen microRNAs in adult honey bees

Negligible uptake and transfer of diet-derived pollen microRNAs in adult honey bees

Chemical composition of the ‘low quality’ pollen of sunflower (Helianthus annuus, Asteraceae)

Specialized Bees Fail to Develop on Non-Host Pollen: Do Plants Chemically Protect Their Pollen

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