Caffeine Consumption Helps Honey Bees Fight a Bacterial Pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Caffeine has long been used as a stimulant by humans. Although this secondary metabolite is produced by some plants as a mechanism of defense against herbivores, beneficial or detrimental effects of such consumption are usually associated with dose. The Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, can also be exposed to caffeine when foraging at Coffea and Citrus plants, and low doses as are found in the nectar of these plants seem to boost memory learning and ameliorate parasite infection in bees. In this study, we investigated the effects of caffeine consumption on the gut microbiota of honey bees and on susceptibility to bacterial infection. We performed in vivo experiments in which honey bees, deprived of or colonized with their native microbiota, were exposed to nectar-rele

SUBMITTER: Motta EVS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10269917 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature