Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
Chemosphere. 2021 Jan;263:128183. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128183. Epub 2020 Aug 29.
Honey bees provision glandular secretions in the form of royal jelly as larval nourishment to developing queens. Exposure to chemicals and nutritional conditions can influence queen development and thus impact colony fitness. Previous research reports that royal jelly remains pesticide-free during colony-level exposure and that chemical residues are buffered by the nurse bees. However, the impacts of pesticides can also manifest in quality and quantity of royal jelly produced by nurse bees. Here, we tested how colony exposure to a multi-pesticide pollen treatment influences the amount of royal jelly provisioned per queen and the additional impacts on royal jelly nutritional quality. We observed differences in the metabolome, proteome, and phytosterol compositions of royal jelly synthesized by nurse bees from multi-pesticide exposed colonies, including significant reductions of key nutrients such as 24-methylenecholesterol, major royal jelly proteins, and 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid. Additionally, quantity of royal jelly provisioned per queen was lower in colonies exposed to pesticides, but this effect was colony-dependent. Pesticide treatment had a greater impact on royal jelly nutritional composition than the weight of royal jelly provisioned per queen cell. These novel findings highlight the indirect effects of pesticide exposure on queen developmental nutrition and allude to social consequences of nurse bee glandular degeneration.
蜜蜂以蜂王浆的形式为发育中的蜂王幼虫提供腺体分泌物作为营养。暴露于化学物质和营养条件会影响蜂王的发育，从而影响群体的适应性。先前的研究报告表明，蜂王浆在群体水平暴露期间仍然不含农药残留，并且化学残留物被工蜂缓冲。然而，农药的影响也可能表现在工蜂产生的蜂王浆的质量和数量上。在这里，我们测试了群体暴露于多农药花粉处理如何影响每个蜂王提供的蜂王浆数量，以及对蜂王浆营养质量的额外影响。我们观察到来自多农药暴露群体的工蜂合成的蜂王浆的代谢组、蛋白质组和植物甾醇组成存在差异，包括关键营养物质如 24-亚甲基胆固醇、主要蜂王浆蛋白和 10-羟基-2-癸烯酸的显著减少。此外，暴露于农药的群体中每个蜂王提供的蜂王浆数量较低，但这种效应取决于群体。农药处理对蜂王浆营养成分的影响大于每个蜂王浆细胞提供的蜂王浆重量。这些新发现强调了农药暴露对蜂王发育营养的间接影响，并暗示了工蜂腺体退化的社会后果。
