Modeling seasonal immune dynamics of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) response to injection of heat-killed Serratia marcescens.

ABSTRACT: The honey bee, Apis mellifera L., is one of the main pollinators worldwide. In a temperate climate, seasonality affects the life span, behavior, physiology, and immunity of honey bees. In consequence, it impacts their interaction with pathogens and parasites. In this study, we used Bayesian statistics and modeling to examine the immune response dynamics of summer and winter honey bee workers after injection with the heat-killed bacteria Serratia marcescens, an opportunistic honey bee pathogen. We investigated the humoral and cellular immune response at the transcriptional and functional levels using qPCR of selected immune genes, antimicrobial activity assay, and flow cytometric analysis of hemocyte concentration. Our data demonstrate increased antimicrobial activity at transcriptional and

SUBMITTER: Hurychova J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11452037 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature