Neurotranscriptomic profiling of deformed wing virus-infected honey bee foragers (Apis mellifera) with different cognitive abilities.

ABSTRACT: Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide important ecosystem services to both natural and human-managed environments, but are increasingly threatened by a variety of pathogens, the most common of which is deformed wing virus (DWV). DWV is known to replicate in the honey bee brain and has been documented as both improving and impairing olfactory learning and memory. We examined the transcriptomic response of the honey bee mushroom bodies - an area of the insect brain associated with higher cognitive functions - in bees with naturally occurring DWV infections, which varied in their ability to perform an associative learning task. RNA-sequencing analysis detected increased expression of genes involved in the immune response, including important antimicrobial peptides such as hymenoptaecin, apidaec

SUBMITTER: Loughran SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12714137 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature