Rondeau Nicole C, Raup-Collado Joanna, Kogan Helen V, Cho Rachel, Lovinger Natalie, Wague Fatoumata, Lopatkin Allison J, Texeira Noelle G, Flores Melissa E, Rovnyak David, Snow Jonathan W
Biology Department, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Department of Chemistry, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA.
Insects. 2025 Mar 13;16(3):300. doi: 10.3390/insects16030300.
The honey bee () is of paramount importance to human activities through the pollination services they provide in agricultural settings. Honey bee colonies in the United States have suffered from an increased rate of annual die-off in recent years, stemming from a complex set of interacting stressors that remain poorly described. Defining the cellular responses that are perturbed by divergent stressors represents a key step in understanding these synergies. We found that multiple model stressors induce upregulated expression of the () gene in the midgut of the eusocial honey bee and that the gene family is expanded in diverse bee species. Alterations in expression were concomitant with changes in the expression of other genes involved in cellular respiration and genes encoding insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) pathway components. Additionally, changes in metabolites in the midgut after stress, including increased levels of lactate, linked metabolic changes with the observed changes in gene expression. Select transcriptional changes in response to stress were similarly observed in the solitary alfalfa leafcutting bee (). Thus, increased expression may be part of a core stress response remodeling cellular respiration and insulin signaling. These findings suggest that a conserved cellular response that regulates metabolic demands under diverse stressful conditions may play a protective role in bees regardless of life history.
蜜蜂（）通过在农业环境中提供授粉服务，对人类活动至关重要。近年来，美国的蜜蜂蜂群每年的死亡率呈上升趋势，这源于一系列复杂的相互作用的应激源，而这些应激源仍未得到充分描述。确定受不同应激源干扰的细胞反应是理解这些协同作用的关键一步。我们发现，多种模型应激源会诱导社会性蜜蜂中肠中（）基因的表达上调，并且该基因家族在不同的蜜蜂物种中有所扩展。基因表达的改变与参与细胞呼吸的其他基因以及编码胰岛素/胰岛素样生长因子信号（IIS）通路成分的基因表达变化同时发生。此外，应激后中肠代谢物的变化，包括乳酸水平的升高，将代谢变化与观察到的基因表达变化联系起来。在独居的苜蓿切叶蜂（）中也同样观察到了对应激的选择性转录变化。因此，基因表达的增加可能是重塑细胞呼吸和胰岛素信号的核心应激反应的一部分。这些发现表明，一种在不同应激条件下调节代谢需求的保守细胞反应可能对蜜蜂起到保护作用，而与生活史无关。
