Dietary phytochemical increase vitellogenin expression and tolerance to sublethal concentration of coumaphos in honey bees.

GARRIDO P, M.; PORRINI M. P.; MARTINEZ NOEL, G.M.; EGUARAS M, J.

Guarujá

Congreso; XVIIIth Congress of International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI); 2018

International Union for the Study of Social Insects

During their life, honeybees can be exposed chronically to residuals of acaricides in apiculturalmatrices of productive hives. It has observed that the organophosphate coumaphoscompromise some metabolic responses. Certain phenolic acids are found in pollen and nectarand are daily ingested by honey bees, such as p-coumaric acid. This compound is known toupregulate detoxification enzymes in adult honey bees. We test if sublethal and chronicadministration of coumaphos (3900 ppb) affect temporal poliethism and if adding p-coumaricacid to the diet favor pesticide tolerance, using the protein vitellogenin (Vg) as an indicator ofnurse-forager transition and heat shock protein (Hsp70) as a biomarker of toxicity. Pollen withUV treatment was employed as a protein source in all treatments. Oral administration wereperformed in two vehicles: sugar syrup (coumaphos treated or control) and candy (p-coumaricacid or control); none of them resulted toxic for adult bees. Nevertheless, prolonged treatmentwith coumaphos and p-coumaric acid together, caused the highest rate of mortality. Syrupconsumption was homogeneous in honey bees. However, consumption of p-coumaric showeda decrease along time indicating a possible rejection of bees. We analyzed protein expressionin 8, 12 and 15-day-old bee. Curiously, dietary p-coumaric acid increase Vg expression in thethree sampling times and decrease the induction of Hsp70 in response at coumaphostreatment in 12-day old honey bees. These results suggest that p-coumaric acid is a promisingcandidate to be used in a preparation in order to enhance honey bee longevity and tolerance topesticide stress. Further assays are needed to assess the effect of these treatments on agedemography structure at field conditions.