Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Laboratorio de Insectos Sociales, Buenos Aires, Argentina; CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Centro Regional de Estudios Genómicos, Laboratorio de Neurobiología de Insectos, La Plata, Argentina.
Environ Pollut. 2020 Jun;261:114148. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114148. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
The honey bee Apis mellifera is the most abundant managed pollinator in diverse crops worldwide. Consequently, it is exposed to a plethora of environmental stressors, among which are the agrochemicals. In agroecosystems, the herbicide glyphosate (GLY) is one of the most applied. In laboratory assessments, GLY affects the honey bee larval development by delaying its moulting, among other negative effects. However, it is still unknown how GLY affects larval physiology when there are no observable signs of toxicity. We carried out a longitudinal experimental design using the in vitro rearing procedure. Larvae were fed with food containing or not a sub-lethal dose of GLY in chronic exposure (120 h). Individuals without observable signs of toxicity were sampled and their gene expression profile was analyzed with a transcriptomic approach to compare between treatments. Even though 29% of larvae were asymptomatic in the exposed group, they showed transcriptional changes in several genes after the GLY chronic intake. A total of 19 transcripts were found to be differentially expressed in the RNA-Seq experiment, mainly linked with defensive response and intermediary metabolism processes. Furthermore, the enriched functional categories in the transcriptome of the exposed asymptomatic larvae were linked with enzymes with catalytic and redox activity. Our results suggest an enhanced catabolism and oxidative metabolism in honey bee larvae as a consequence of the sub-lethal exposure to GLY, even in the absence of observable symptoms.
蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）是世界上分布最广泛、应用最广泛的管理授粉媒介之一。因此，它暴露在大量的环境胁迫因素中，其中包括农用化学品。在农业生态系统中，除草剂草甘膦（GLY）是应用最广泛的之一。在实验室评估中，GLY 通过延迟其蜕皮等负面影响来影响蜜蜂幼虫的发育。然而，当没有明显的毒性迹象时，GLY 如何影响幼虫的生理机能仍然未知。我们使用体外饲养程序进行了纵向实验设计。幼虫在含有或不含有亚致死剂量 GLY 的食物中进行慢性暴露（120 小时）。在没有观察到毒性迹象的个体中取样，并通过转录组学方法分析其基因表达谱，以比较处理之间的差异。尽管暴露组中有 29%的幼虫没有出现症状，但它们在 GLY 慢性摄入后显示出几个基因的转录变化。在 RNA-Seq 实验中发现了总共 19 个转录本差异表达，主要与防御反应和中间代谢过程有关。此外，暴露无症状幼虫转录组中富集的功能类别与具有催化和氧化还原活性的酶有关。我们的研究结果表明，即使没有观察到症状，蜜蜂幼虫在亚致死暴露于 GLY 后，其分解代谢和氧化代谢会增强。
