Transcriptomic analysis of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) queen brain reveals that gene expression is affected by pesticide exposure during development.

ABSTRACT: Honey bees (Apis mellifera) play a pivotal role in agricultural production worldwide, primarily through the provision of pollination services. But despite their importance, honey bee health continues to be threatened by many factors, including parasitization by the mite Varroa destructor, poor queen quality, and pesticide exposure. Accumulation of pesticides in the hive's comb matrix over time inevitably leads to the exposure of developing brood, including queens, to wax contaminated with multiple compounds. Here, we characterized the brain transcriptome of queens that were reared in wax contaminated with pesticides commonly found in commercial beekeeping operations including either (a) a combination of 204,000 ppb of tau-fluvalinate and 91,900 ppb of coumaphos ("FC" group), (b) a combinat

SUBMITTER: Dickey M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10138211 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature