Hernández López Javier, Schuehly Wolfgang, Crailsheim Karl, Riessberger-Gallé Ulrike
Department of Zoology, Karl-Franzens University of Graz, , Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Apr 30;281(1785):20140454. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0454. Print 2014 Jun 22.
Maternal immune experience acquired during pathogen exposure and passed on to progeny to enhance resistance to infection is called trans-generational immune priming (TgIP). In eusocial insects like honeybees, TgIP would result in a significant improvement of health at individual and colony level. Demonstrated in invertebrates other than honeybees, TgIP has not yet been fully elucidated in terms of intensity and molecular mechanisms underlying this response. Here, we immune-stimulated honeybee queens with Paenibacillus larvae (Pl), a spore-forming bacterium causing American Foulbrood, the most deadly bee brood disease worldwide. Subsequently, offspring of stimulated queens were exposed to spores of Pl and mortality rates were measured to evaluate maternal transfer of immunity. Our data substantiate the existence of TgIP effects in honeybees by direct evaluation of offspring resistance to bacterial infection. A further aspect of this study was to investigate a potential correlation between immune priming responses and prohaemocytes-haemocyte differentiation processes in larvae. The results point out that a priming effect triggers differentiation of prohaemocytes to haemocytes. However, the mechanisms underlying TgIP responses are still elusive and require future investigation.
母体在接触病原体期间获得并传递给后代以增强抗感染能力的免疫经验被称为跨代免疫致敏（TgIP）。在蜜蜂等群居昆虫中，TgIP会在个体和群体层面显著改善健康状况。虽然在蜜蜂以外的无脊椎动物中已证实存在TgIP，但在这种反应的强度和分子机制方面尚未完全阐明。在此，我们用幼虫芽孢杆菌（Pl）对蜜蜂蜂王进行免疫刺激，Pl是一种形成芽孢的细菌，可导致美洲幼虫腐臭病，这是全球最致命的蜜蜂幼虫疾病。随后，将受刺激蜂王的后代暴露于Pl的孢子中，并测量死亡率以评估母体的免疫转移。我们的数据通过直接评估后代对细菌感染的抵抗力，证实了蜜蜂中存在TgIP效应。本研究的另一个方面是调查免疫致敏反应与幼虫前血细胞-血细胞分化过程之间的潜在相关性。结果指出，致敏效应会触发前血细胞向血细胞的分化。然而，TgIP反应的潜在机制仍然难以捉摸，需要未来进一步研究。
