Pavlović Ratko, Brodschneider Robert, Goessler Walter, Stanisavljević Ljubiša, Vujčić Zoran, Zarić Nenad M
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Department of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Insects. 2024 Apr 12;15(4):269. doi: 10.3390/insects15040269.
Chalkbrood is a disease of honey bee brood caused by the fungal parasite . Many factors such as genetics, temperature, humidity and nutrition influence the appearance of clinical symptoms. Poor nutrition impairs the immune system, which favors the manifestation of symptoms of many honey bee diseases. However, a direct link between dietary ingredients and the symptoms of chalkbrood disease has not yet been established. We show here that the elemental composition of chalkbrood mummies and healthy larvae from the same infected hives differ, as well as that mummies differ from larvae from healthy hives. Chalkbrood mummies had the highest concentration of macroelements such as Na, Mg, P, S, K and Ca and some microelements such as Rb and Sn, and at the same time the lowest concentration of B, As, Sr, Ag, Cd, Sb, Ba and Pb. Larvae from infected hives contained less Pb, Ba, Cs, Sb, Cd, Sr, As, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Mn, Cr, V and Al in contrast to healthy larvae from a disease-free apiary. This is the first study to demonstrate such differences, suggesting that an infection alters the larval nutrition or that nutrition is a predisposition for the outbreak of a chalkbrood infection. Though, based on results obtained from a case study, rather than from a controlled experiment, our findings stress the differences in elements of healthy versus diseased honey bee larvae.
白垩病是一种由真菌寄生虫引起的蜜蜂幼虫疾病。许多因素，如遗传学、温度、湿度和营养，都会影响临床症状的出现。营养不良会损害免疫系统，这有利于许多蜜蜂疾病症状的表现。然而，饮食成分与白垩病症状之间的直接联系尚未建立。我们在此表明，来自同一受感染蜂群的白垩病木乃伊和健康幼虫的元素组成不同，并且木乃伊与来自健康蜂群的幼虫也不同。白垩病木乃伊中钠、镁、磷、硫、钾和钙等大量元素以及铷和锡等一些微量元素的浓度最高，同时硼、砷、锶、银、镉、锑、钡和铅的浓度最低。与来自无病蜂场的健康幼虫相比，受感染蜂群的幼虫所含的铅、钡、铯、锑、镉、锶、砷、锌、铜、镍、钴、锰、铬、钒和铝较少。这是第一项证明此类差异的研究，表明感染会改变幼虫营养，或者营养是白垩病感染爆发的一个诱因。不过，基于从一个案例研究而非对照实验获得的结果，我们的发现强调了健康与患病蜜蜂幼虫在元素方面的差异。
