Characterization of the honeybee AmNaV1 channel and tools to assess the toxicity of insecticides.

ABSTRACT: Pollination is important for both agriculture and biodiversity. For a significant number of plants, this process is highly, and sometimes exclusively, dependent on the pollination activity of honeybees. The large numbers of honeybee colony losses reported in recent years have been attributed to colony collapse disorder. Various hypotheses, including pesticide overuse, have been suggested to explain the disorder. Using the Xenopus oocytes expression system and two microelectrode voltage-clamp, we report the functional expression and the molecular, biophysical, and pharmacological characterization of the western honeybee's sodium channel (Apis Mellifera NaV1). The NaV1 channel is the primary target for pyrethroid insecticides in insect pests. We further report that the honeybee's channel is

SUBMITTER: Gosselin-Badaroudine P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4894402 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature