Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year Filter | PMID(sorted descending) Filter |
|---|
| the effects of disturbance threat on leaf-cutting ant colonies: a laboratory study. | the flexibility of organisms to respond plastically to their environment is fundamental to their fitness and evolutionary success. social insects provide some of the most impressive examples of plasticity, with individuals exhibiting behavioral and sometimes morphological adaptations for their specific roles in the colony, such as large soldiers for nest defense. however, with the exception of the honey bee model organism, there has been little investigation of the nature and effects of environm ... | 2017 | 28255181 |
| characterizing the structure and oligomerization of major royal jelly protein 1 (mrjp1) by mass spectrometry and complementary biophysical tools. | royal jelly (rj) triggers the development of female honeybee larvae into queens. this effect has been attributed to the presence of major royal jelly protein 1 (mrjp1) in rj. mrjp1 isolated from royal jelly is tightly associated with apisimin, a 54-residue α-helical peptide that promotes the noncovalent assembly of mrjp1 into multimers. no high-resolution structural data are available for these complexes, and their binding stoichiometry remains uncertain. we examined mrjp1/apisimin using a range ... | 2017 | 28252287 |
| the darwin cure for apiculture? natural selection and managed honeybee health. | recent major losses of managed honeybee, apis mellifera, colonies at a global scale have resulted in a multitude of research efforts to identify the underlying mechanisms. numerous factors acting singly and/or in combination have been identified, ranging from pathogens, over nutrition to pesticides. however, the role of apiculture in limiting natural selection has largely been ignored. this is unfortunate, because honeybees are more exposed to environmental stressors compared to other livestock ... | 2017 | 28250807 |
| unity in defence: honeybee workers exhibit conserved molecular responses to diverse pathogens. | organisms typically face infection by diverse pathogens, and hosts are thought to have developed specific responses to each type of pathogen they encounter. the advent of transcriptomics now makes it possible to test this hypothesis and compare host gene expression responses to multiple pathogens at a genome-wide scale. here, we performed a meta-analysis of multiple published and new transcriptomes using a newly developed bioinformatics approach that filters genes based on their expression profi ... | 2017 | 28249569 |
| comparative analysis of the monochamus alternatus immune system. | the pine sawyer beetle, monochamus alternatus, is regarded as a notorious forest pest in asia, vectoring an invasive pathogenic nematode, bursaphelenchus xylophilus, which is known to cause pine wilt disease. however, little sequence information is available for this vector beetle. this hampered the research on its immune system. based on transcriptome of m. alternatus, we have identified and characterized 194 immunity-related genes in m. alternatus, and compared them with homologues molecules f ... | 2017 | 28247970 |
| transfer assessment of carbendazim residues from rape flowers to apicultural products. | carbendazim is usually used to control the sclerotinia sclerotiorum of rapes during the flowering period. this paper presents a study on transfer assessment of carbendazim residues from rape flowers to apicultural products. in the field trials, the rapes were sprayed with carbendazim on standard dosage. bees produced apicultural products (bee pollen, honey, and royal jelly) from sprayed rapes. apicultural products were collected on a regular basis. carbendazim residues were extracted from bee po ... | 2017 | 28246574 |
| kidney injury in a dog following bee sting-associated anaphylaxis. | this report describes a case of honeybee envenomation in a dog that developed anaphylaxis after being stung by approximately 10 bees. the dog subsequently developed acute kidney injury. the dog had a previous mild increase in blood urea nitrogen with normal creatinine, possibly indicating an insidious chronic renal degenerative process that went into acute decompensation at the time of bee envenomation. | 2017 | 28246414 |
| floral abundance, richness, and spatial distribution drive urban garden bee communities. | in urban landscapes, gardens provide refuges for bee diversity, but conservation potential may depend on local and landscape features. foraging and population persistence of bee species, as well as overall pollinator community structure, may be supported by the abundance, richness, and spatial distribution of floral resources. floral resources strongly differ in urban gardens. using hand netting and pan traps to survey bees, we examined whether abundance, richness, and spatial distribution of fl ... | 2017 | 28245886 |
| volume and density of microglomeruli in the honey bee mushroom bodies do not predict performance on a foraging task. | the mushroom bodies (mbs) are insect brain regions important for sensory integration, learning, and memory. in adult worker honey bees (apis mellifera), the volume of neuropil associated with the mbs is larger in experienced foragers compared with hive bees and less experienced foragers. in addition, the characteristic synaptic structures of the calycal neuropils, the microglomeruli, are larger but present at lower density in 35-day-old foragers relative to 1-day-old workers. age- and experience ... | 2017 | 28245532 |
| oral administration of heat-killed lactobacillus kunkeei yb38 improves murine influenza pneumonia by enhancing iga production. | influenza is one of the important respiratory tract infections that require special attention for maintaining health and hygiene. the removal of influenza virus (ifv) by secretory iga produced by the respiratory epithelium has been reported to be a critical host defense mechanism. therefore, we isolated lactobacillus kunkeei yb38 (yb38), the promoter of the salivary iga secretion in humans, from honeybee pollen and studied the effect of heat-killed yb38 treatment for preventing ifv infection in ... | 2017 | 28243545 |
| insects, arachnids and centipedes venom: a powerful weapon against bacteria. a literature review. | currently, new antimicrobial molecules extracted or obtained by natural sources, could be a valide alternative to traditional antibiotics. most of these molecules are represented by antimicrobial peptides (amps), which are essential compounds of insect, arachnids and centipedes venom. amps, due to their strong effectiveness, low resistance rates and peculiar mode of action, seem to have all the suitable features to be a powerful weapon against several bacteria, especially considering the increas ... | 2017 | 28242227 |
| markov chain model-based optimal cluster heads selection for wireless sensor networks. | the longer network lifetime of wireless sensor networks (wsns) is a goal which is directly related to energy consumption. this energy consumption issue becomes more challenging when the energy load is not properly distributed in the sensing area. the hierarchal clustering architecture is the best choice for these kind of issues. in this paper, we introduce a novel clustering protocol called markov chain model-based optimal cluster heads (mochs) selection for wsns. in our proposed model, we intro ... | 2017 | 28241492 |
| dna methylation mediates neural processing after odor learning in the honeybee. | dna methyltransferases (dnmts) - epigenetic writers catalyzing the transfer of methyl-groups to cytosine (dna methylation) - regulate different aspects of memory formation in many animal species. in honeybees, dnmt activity is required to adjust the specificity of olfactory reward memories and bees' relearning capability. the physiological relevance of dnmt-mediated dna methylation in neural networks, however, remains unknown. here, we investigated how dnmt activity impacts neuroplasticity in th ... | 2017 | 28240742 |
| the buzz about bees and poverty alleviation: identifying drivers and barriers of beekeeping in sub-saharan africa. | the potential of beekeeping to mitigate the exposure of rural sub-sahara african farmers to economic stochasticity has been widely promoted by an array of development agencies. robust outcome indicators of the success of beekeeping to improve household well-being are unfortunately lacking. this study aimed to identify the key drivers and barriers of beekeeping adoption at the household level, and quantified the associated income contribution in three agro-ecological zones in uganda. beekeepers w ... | 2017 | 28235072 |
| genomic changes associated with the evolutionary transition of an insect gut symbiont into a blood-borne pathogen. | the genus bartonella comprises facultative intracellular bacteria with a unique lifestyle. after transmission by blood-sucking arthropods they colonize the erythrocytes of mammalian hosts causing acute and chronic infectious diseases. although the pathogen-host interaction is well understood, little is known about the evolutionary origin of the infection strategy manifested by bartonella species. here we analyzed six genomes of bartonella apis, a honey bee gut symbiont that to date represents th ... | 2017 | 28234349 |
| repeated evolution of soldier sub-castes suggests parasitism drives social complexity in stingless bees. | the differentiation of workers into morphological castes represents an important evolutionary innovation that is thought to improve division of labor in insect societies. given the potential benefits of task-related worker differentiation, it is puzzling that physical worker castes, such as soldiers, are extremely rare in social bees and absent in wasps. following the recent discovery of soldiers in a stingless bee, we studied the occurrence of worker differentiation in 28 stingless bee species ... | 2017 | 28232746 |
| assessment of the toxic effect of pesticides on honey bee drone fertility using laboratory and semifield approaches: a case study of fipronil. | concern about the reproductive toxicity of plant protection products in honey bee reproducers is increasing. because the reproductive capacity of honey bees is not currently considered during the risk assessment procedure performed during plant protection product registration, it is important to provide methods to assess such potential impairments. to achieve this aim, we used 2 different approaches that involved semifield and laboratory conditions to study the impact of fipronil on drone fertil ... | 2017 | 28224659 |
| nadh autofluorescence, a new metabolic biomarker for cancer stem cells: identification of vitamin c and cape as natural products targeting "stemness". | here, we assembled a broad molecular "tool-kit" to interrogate the role of metabolic heterogeneity in the propagation of cancer stem-like cells (cscs). first, we subjected mcf7 cells to "metabolic fractionation" by flow cytometry, using fluorescent mitochondrial probes to detect pcg1α activity, as well ros and hydrogen-peroxide (h2o2) production; nadh levels were also monitored by auto-fluorescence. then, the various cell populations were functionally assessed for "stem cell activity", using the ... | 2017 | 28223550 |
| bioprofiling of salicaceae bud extracts through high-performance thin-layer chromatography hyphenated to biochemical, microbiological and chemical detections. | the buds of poplars (populus l.) and willows (salix l.), both from the same family (salicaceae mirbel), are increasingly used in gemmotherapy and importantly contribute to the production of the physiologically active propolis by european bee apis mellifera l. in order to study their phenolic profiles, polar extracts of buds from p. nigra l. were compared to those of p. alba l. and s. alba l. through high-performance thin-layer chromatography (hptlc). five chemotypical patterns were distinguished ... | 2017 | 28222858 |
| wild pollinators enhance oilseed rape yield in small-holder farming systems in china. | insect pollinators play an important role in crop pollination, but the relative contribution of wild pollinators and honey bees to pollination is currently under debate. there is virtually no information available on the strength of pollination services and the identity of pollination service providers from asian smallholder farming systems, where fields are small, and variation among fields is high. we established 18 winter oilseed rape (brassica napus l.) fields along a large geographical grad ... | 2017 | 28222708 |
| pancreatoprotective effects of geniotrigona thoracica stingless bee honey in streptozotocin-nicotinamide-induced male diabetic rats. | stingless bee honey (slbh) has been claimed to possess multiple health benefits. its anti-diabetic properties are however unknown. in this study, ability of slbh from geniotrigona thoracica stingless bee species in ameliorating pancreatic damage and in maintaining metabolic profiles were investigated in diabetic condition. | 2017 | 28222394 |
| chemical and cytotoxic analyses of brown brazilian propolis (apis mellifera) and its in vitro activity against itraconazole-resistant sporothrix brasiliensis. | this study aimed to evaluate the chemical composition and cytotoxic activity of brown brazilian propolis and its in vitro activity against itraconazole-resistant sporothrix brasiliensis from animal sporotrichosis. propolis was acquired commercially and prepared as a hydroalcoholic extract. chemical analysis was evaluated by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry of ultra-efficiency. the cell viability was evaluated by mtt test in mdbk cells of 50 to 0.09 μg/ml. for antifungal tests, ... | 2017 | 28219829 |
| bee venom phospholipase a2 ameliorates house dust mite extract induced atopic dermatitis like skin lesions in mice. | atopic dermatitis (ad) is a biphasic inflammatory skin disease that is provoked by epidermal barrier defects, immune dysregulation, and increased skin infections. previously, we have demonstrated that bvpla2 evoked immune tolerance by inducing regulatory t cells (treg), and thus alleviated th2 dominant allergic asthma in mice. here, we would like to determine whether treatment with bvpla2 exacerbates the ad-like allergic inflammations induced by house dust mite extract (dfe) in a murine model. e ... | 2017 | 28218721 |
| the importance of pollen chemistry in evolutionary host shifts of bees. | although bee-plant associations are generally maintained through speciation processes, host shifts have occurred during evolution. understanding shifts between both phylogenetically and morphologically unrelated plants (i.e., host-saltation) is especially important since they could have been key processes in the origin and radiation of bees. probably far from being a random process, such host-saltation might be driven by hidden constraints associated with plant traits. we selected two clades of ... | 2017 | 28216663 |
| impacts of dietary phytochemicals in the presence and absence of pesticides on longevity of honey bees (apis mellifera). | because certain flavonols and phenolic acids are found in pollen and nectar of most angiosperms, they are routinely ingested by apis mellifera, the western honey bee. the flavonol quercetin and the phenolic acid p-coumaric acid are known to upregulate detoxification enzymes in adult bees; their presence or absence in the diet may thus affect the toxicity of ingested pesticides. we conducted a series of longevity assays with one-day-old adult workers to test if dietary phytochemicals enhance long ... | 2017 | 28216580 |
| seasonal cycle of inbreeding and recombination of the parasitic mite varroa destructor in honeybee colonies and its implications for the selection of acaricide resistance. | varroa destructor is the most devastating parasite of the western honeybee, apis mellifera. in the light of the arm race opposing the host and its parasite, the population dynamics and genetic diversity of these organisms are key parameters. however, the life cycle of v. destructor is characterized by extreme inbreeding due to full sibling mating in the host brood cells. we here present an equation reflecting the evolution of inbreeding in such a clonal system, and compare our predictions with e ... | 2017 | 28216419 |
| nesting habits influence population genetic structure of a bee living in anthropogenic disturbance. | while most organisms are negatively affected by anthropogenic disturbance, a few species thrive in landscapes altered by humans. typically, native bees are negatively impacted by anthropogenic environmental change, including habitat alteration and climate change. here, we investigate the population structure of the eastern carpenter bee xylocopa virginica, a generalist pollinator with a broad geographic range spanning eastern north america. eastern carpenter bees now nest almost exclusively in a ... | 2017 | 28214357 |
| regional differences in the preferred e-vector orientation of honeybee ocellar photoreceptors. | in addition to compound eyes, honeybees (apis mellifera) possess three single lens eyes called ocelli located on the top of the head. ocelli are involved in head-attitude control and in some insects have been shown to provide celestial compass information. anatomical and early electrophysiological studies have suggested that uv and blue-green photoreceptors in ocelli are polarization sensitive. however, their retinal distribution and receptor characteristics have not been documented. here, we us ... | 2017 | 28213397 |
| multiple pesticide residues in live and poisoned honeybees - preliminary exposure assessment. | study combines data about the exposure of honeybees to pesticides from plant protection products and veterinary medicinal products. residues of 200 pesticide and pesticide metabolites in 343 live and 74 poisoned honeybee samples, obtained during the years of 2014-2015, were determined by lc-ms/ms and gc-ms/ms. in 44% of live honeybee 48 different pesticide residues were found, mainly amitraz metabolites (dmf, dmpf) and chlorpyrifos. in 98% of poisoned honeybee 57 pesticides and metabolites were ... | 2017 | 28211333 |
| cold ambient temperature promotes nosema spp. intensity in honey bees (apis mellifera). | interactions between parasites and environmental factors have been implicated in the loss of managed western honey bee (=hb, apis mellifera) colonies. although laboratory data suggest that cold temperature may limit the spread of nosema ceranae, an invasive species and now ubiquitous endoparasite of western hbs, the impact of weather conditions on the distribution of this microsporidian in the field is poorly understood. here, we conducted a survey for nosema spp. using 18 swiss apiaries (four c ... | 2017 | 28208761 |
| simultaneous determination of absolute configuration and quantity of lipopeptides using chiral liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and diastereomeric internal standards. | lipopeptides promote innate immune response and are related to disease pathology. to investigate the newly emerging roles of lipopeptides, accurate measurements of stereoisomers with multiple chiral centers are essential yet challenging. this work uses (3r)- and (3s)-(15-methyl-3-((13-methyltetradecanoyl)oxy)hexadecanoyl)glycyl-l-serine, abbreviated as l-serine-(r+s)-lipid 654, to develop a method that combines chiral liquid chromatography, a diastereomeric mixture of isotopically labeled intern ... | 2017 | 28207237 |
| immune system stimulation by the gut symbiont frischella perrara in the honey bee (apis mellifera). | gut bacteria engage in various symbiotic interactions with their host and impact gut immunity and homeostasis in different ways. in honey bees, the gut microbiota is composed of a relatively simple, but highly specialized bacterial community. one of its members, the gammaproteobacterium frischella perrara induces the so-called scab phenotype, a dark-coloured band that develops on the epithelial surface of the pylorus. to understand the underlying host response, we analysed transcriptome changes ... | 2017 | 28207182 |
| using dna metabarcoding to investigate honey bee foraging reveals limited flower use despite high floral availability. | understanding which flowers honey bees (apis mellifera) use for forage can help us to provide suitable plants for healthy honey bee colonies. accordingly, honey dna metabarcoding provides a valuable tool for investigating pollen and nectar collection. we investigated early season (april and may) floral choice by honey bees provided with a very high diversity of flowering plants within the national botanic garden of wales. there was a close correspondence between the phenology of flowering and th ... | 2017 | 28205632 |
| melittin inhibits osteoclast formation through the downregulation of the rankl-rank signaling pathway and the inhibition of interleukin-1β in murine macrophages. | melittin is a major toxic component of bee venom (apis mellifera). it is not known whether melittin is involved in bone metabolism and osteoclastogenesis. the aim of this study was to determine the role of melittin in the regulation of osteoclastogenesis. in vitro osteoclastogenesis assays were performed using mouse raw 264.7 cells and bone marrow-derived macrophages (bmms) treated with receptor activator of nuclear factor-κb ligand (rankl) and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (m-csf). morph ... | 2017 | 28204822 |
| migratory bee hive transportation contributes insignificantly to transgenic pollen movement between spatially isolated alfalfa seed fields. | 2017 | 28204486 | |
| microbiology: gut bacteria boost bee immunity. | 2017 | 28202955 | |
| disruption of quercetin metabolism by fungicide affects energy production in honey bees (apis mellifera). | cytochrome p450 monooxygenases (p450) in the honey bee, apis mellifera, detoxify phytochemicals in honey and pollen. the flavonol quercetin is found ubiquitously and abundantly in pollen and frequently at lower concentrations in honey. worker jelly consumed during the first 3 d of larval development typically contains flavonols at very low levels, however. rna-seq analysis of gene expression in neonates reared for three days on diets with and without quercetin revealed that, in addition to up-re ... | 2017 | 28193870 |
| volatile organic compounds of thai honeys produced from several floral sources by different honey bee species. | the volatile organic compounds (vocs) of four monofloral and one multifloral of thai honeys produced by apis cerana, apis dorsata and apis mellifera were analyzed by headspace solid-phase microextraction (hs-spme) followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (gc-ms). the floral sources were longan, sunflower, coffee, wild flowers (wild) and lychee. honey originating from longan had more vocs than all other floral sources. sunflower honey had the least numbers of vocs. cis-linalool oxide, ... | 2017 | 28192487 |
| studies of learned helplessness in honey bees (apis mellifera ligustica). | the current study reports 2 experiments investigating learned helplessness in the honey bee (apis mellifera ligustica). in experiment 1, we used a traditional escape method but found the bees' activity levels too high to observe changes due to treatment conditions. the bees were not able to learn in this traditional escape procedure; thus, such procedures may be inappropriate to study learned helplessness in honey bees. in experiment 2, we used an alternative punishment, or passive avoidance, me ... | 2017 | 28191986 |
| spectroscopic study of honey from apis mellifera from different regions in mexico. | the objective of this study was to analyze by raman and uv-vis-nir spectroscopic techniques, mexican honey from apis mellífera, using representative samples with different botanic origins (unifloral and multifloral) and diverse climates. using raman spectroscopy together with principal components analysis, the results obtained represent the possibility to use them for determination of floral origin of honey, independently of the region of sampling. for this, the effect of heat up the honey was a ... | 2017 | 28189836 |
| taxonomy and ecology of a new species of <i>corynura</i> (hymenoptera: halictidae: augochlorini) from chile and argentina. | we describe a new species of corynura spinola, a socially polymorphic genus within the bee tribe augochlorini (halictidae). we present a detailed description of both sexes of corynura (corynura) moscosensis n. sp. gonzález-vaquero, images of diagnostic morphological structures and antennal sensilla, floral associations, distributional data and notes on its nesting biology. corynura moscosensis n. sp. is similar in appearance to c. (c.) chloromelas (alfken), but it can be distinguished by the scu ... | 2017 | 28187675 |
| type revision of asiatic bees of the genus <i>hylaeus</i> f. described by ferdinand morawitz (hymenoptera: apoidea, colletidae). | the type specimens of the bee genus hylaeus fabricius, 1793 described by ferdinand morawitz from asia and deposited in the zoological museum of the moscow state university and in the zoological institute, russian academy of sciences st. petersburg, are critically reviewed. precise information with illustrations of types for 39 taxa is provided. new synonymy is established for hylaeus incongruus förster, 1871 (= h. biareolatus morawitz, 1876, syn. nov.); h. breviceps morawitz, 1876 (= h. bivittat ... | 2017 | 28187591 |
| palaearctic <i>protosmia</i> bees of the subgenus <i>chelostomopsis </i>(megachilidae, osmiini): biology, taxonomy and key to species. | chelostomopsis represents a subgenus of the osmiine bee genus protosmia (megachilidae) containing three palaearctic and one nearctic species. analysis of female pollen loads and literature data indicate that all chelostomopsis species are broad pollen generalists exploiting the flowers of numerous plant families, such as fabaceae, asteraceae, lamiaceae, cistaceae and brassicaceae. preexisting linear cavities in dead wood or pine cones serve as nesting sites and pure resin is used to construct ce ... | 2017 | 28187589 |
| development of an analytical method for detecting nitrofurans in bee pollen by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. | bee pollen collected by honeybees, which is in powdered form, is a good nutritional supplement. nitrofuran antibiotics are assumed not to be present in bee pollen, which is important as the level of antibiotics in bee pollen is strongly regulated in many countries. a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (lc-ms/ms) method to detect nitrofurans in honey has been developed, but this method is not suitable for bee pollen because of it being in powdered form. during preparation of bee polle ... | 2017 | 28187378 |
| stress indicator gene expression profiles, colony dynamics and tissue development of honey bees exposed to sub-lethal doses of imidacloprid in laboratory and field experiments. | in this study, different context-dependent effects of imidacloprid exposure on the honey bee response were studied. honey bees were exposed to different concentrations of imidacloprid during a time period of 40 days. next to these variables, a laboratory-field comparison was conducted. the influence of the chronic exposure on gene expression levels was determined using an in-house developed microarray targeting different immunity-related and detoxification genes to determine stress-related gene ... | 2017 | 28182641 |
| landscape context alters cost of living in honeybee metabolism and feeding. | field metabolic rate (fmr) links the energy budget of an animal with the constraints of its ecosystem, but is particularly difficult to measure for small organisms. landscape degradation exacerbates environmental adversity and reduces resource availability, imposing higher costs of living for many organisms. here, we report a significant effect of landscape degradation on the fmr of free-flying apis mellifera, estimated using (86)rb radio-isotopic turnover. we validated the relationship between ... | 2017 | 28179522 |
| long-term trends in the honeybee 'whooping signal' revealed by automated detection. | it is known that honeybees use vibrational communication pathways to transfer information. one honeybee signal that has been previously investigated is the short vibrational pulse named the 'stop signal', because its inhibitory effect is generally the most accepted interpretation. the present study demonstrates long term (over 9 months) automated in-situ non-invasive monitoring of a honeybee vibrational pulse with the same characteristics of what has previously been described as a stop signal us ... | 2017 | 28178291 |
| flavonoid composition and antitumor activity of bee bread collected in northeast portugal. | bee bread (bb) is a fermented mixture of plant pollen, honey, and bee saliva that worker bees use as food for larvae, and for young bees to produce royal jelly. in the present study, five bb samples, collected from apis mellifera iberiensis hives located in different apiaries near bragança, in the northeast region of portugal, and one bb commercial sample were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a diode array detector and electrospray mass spectrometry (hplc-dad-es ... | 2017 | 28178217 |
| inside honeybee hives: impact of natural propolis on the ectoparasitic mite varroa destructor and viruses. | social immunity is a key factor for honeybee health, including behavioral defense strategies such as the collective use of antimicrobial plant resins (propolis). while laboratory data repeatedly show significant propolis effects, field data are scarce, especially at the colony level. here, we investigated whether propolis, as naturally deposited in the nests, can protect honeybees against ectoparasitic mites varroa destructor and associated viruses, which are currently considered the most seriou ... | 2017 | 28178181 |
| dna barcoding the bees (hymenoptera: apoidea) of chile: species discovery in a reasonably well known bee fauna with the description of a new species of lonchopria (colletidae). | we compare the diversity of bees in the chilean fauna as understood from traditional taxonomy-based catalogues with that currently known from dna barcodes using the bin system informed by ongoing morphology-based taxonomic research. while dna barcode surveys of the chilean bee fauna remain incomplete, it is clear that new species can readily be distinguished using this method and that morphological differentiation of distinct barcode clusters is sometimes very easy. we assess the situation in tw ... | 2016 | 28177842 |
| propolis from southwest of parana produced by selected bees: influence of seasonality and food supplementation on antioxidant activity and phenolic profile. | propolis produced by selected bees apis mellifera were collected from march to june of 2013 and in march of 2015 and analyzed in order to evaluate the influence of climate, colony of origin, and food supplementation of colonies on the content of total phenolic and flavonoid by chromatographic analysis and antioxidant activity by radical scavenging of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (dpph) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (abts) and ferric reducing antioxidant pow ... | 2017 | 28177054 |
| a new metazoan recombination rate record and consistently high recombination rates in the honey bee genus apis accompanied by frequent inversions but not translocations. | 2016 | 28173114 | |
| effect of honeybee stinger and its microstructured barbs on insertion and pull force. | worker honeybee is well-known for its stinger with microscopic backward-facing barbs for self-defense. the natural geometry of the stinger enables painless penetration and adhesion in the human skin to deliver poison. in this study, apis cerana worker honeybee stinger and acupuncture microneedle (as a barbless stinger) were characterized by scanning electron microscope (sem). the insertion and pull process of honeybee stinger into rabbit skin was performed by a self-developed mechanical loading ... | 2017 | 28171813 |
| new data on the species metacheyletia degenerata fain and bochkov (acariformes: cheyletidae) | metacheyletia degenerata fain and bochkov, 2003 (acariformes: cheyletidae) is recorded for the first time from the quills of the european bee-eater merops apiaster l., 1758 (coraciformes: meropidae). it is also the first record of metacheyletia found on coraciiform birds. moreover, the following localities: macedonia, italy, azerbaijan, russia and tanzania, are new for m. degenerata. | 2016 | 28170209 |
| performance of honey bee colonies under a long-lasting dietary exposure to sublethal concentrations of the neonicotinoid insecticide thiacloprid. | substantial honey bee colony losses have occurred periodically in the last decades. the drivers for these losses are not fully understood. the influence of pests and pathogens are beyond dispute, but in addition, chronic exposure to sublethal concentrations of pesticides has been suggested to affect the performance of honey bee colonies. this study aims to elucidate the potential effects of a chronic exposure to sublethal concentrations (one realistic worst-case concentration) of the neonicotino ... | 2017 | 28168846 |
| learning, gustatory responsiveness and tyramine differences across nurse and forager honeybees. | honeybees are well known for their complex division of labor. each bee sequentially performs a series of social tasks during its life. the changes in social task performance are linked to gross differences in behavior and physiology. we here tested whether honeybees performing different social tasks (nursing vs. foraging) would differ in their gustatory responsiveness and associative learning behavior in addition to their daily tasks in the colony. further, we investigated the role of the biogen ... | 2017 | 28167800 |
| the complex demographic history and evolutionary origin of the western honey bee, apis mellifera. | 2017 | 28164223 | |
| an experiment on the impact of a neonicotinoid pesticide on honeybees: the value of a formal analysis of the data. | we assess the analysis of the data resulting from a field experiment conducted by pilling et al. (plos one. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077193, 5) on the potential effects of thiamethoxam on honeybees. the experiment had low levels of replication, so pilling et al. concluded that formal statistical analysis would be misleading. this would be true if such an analysis merely comprised tests of statistical significance and if the investigators concluded that lack of significance meant little or no e ... | 2017 | 28163992 |
| authors response on schick et al. 2017 "an experiment of the impact of a neonicotinoid pesticide on honey bees; the value of a formal analysis of the data". environ sci eur (2017). | whilst a formal statistical analysis of any experimental data is always preferable in principle, in the case of pilling et al. (plos one 8:e77193, 2013), it is hard to see how the results of any formal analysis-including those provided by schick et al.-could be considered reliable. regardless of the issue of statistical analysis, there was a wealth of valuable and novel biological and chemical residue data generated under field conditions of use in pilling et al., which when taken into considera ... | 2017 | 28163990 |
| foraging in an unsteady world: bumblebee flight performance in field-realistic turbulence. | natural environments are characterized by variable wind that can pose significant challenges for flying animals and robots. however, our understanding of the flow conditions that animals experience outdoors and how these impact flight performance remains limited. here, we combine laboratory and field experiments to characterize wind conditions encountered by foraging bumblebees in outdoor environments and test the effects of these conditions on flight. we used radio-frequency tags to track forag ... | 2017 | 28163878 |
| proteomic and metabolomic analysis reveals rapid and extensive nicotine detoxification ability in honey bee larvae. | despite potential links between pesticides and bee declines, toxicology information on honey bee larvae (apis mellifera) is scarce and detoxification mechanisms in this development stage are virtually unknown. larvae are exposed to natural and synthetic toxins present in pollen and nectar through consumption of brood food. due to the characteristic intensive brood care displayed by honey bees, which includes progressive feeding throughout larval development, it is generally assumed that larvae r ... | 2017 | 28161469 |
| insect bio-inspired neural network provides new evidence on how simple feature detectors can enable complex visual generalization and stimulus location invariance in the miniature brain of honeybees. | the ability to generalize over naturally occurring variation in cues indicating food or predation risk is highly useful for efficient decision-making in many animals. honeybees have remarkable visual cognitive abilities, allowing them to classify visual patterns by common features despite having a relatively miniature brain. here we ask the question whether generalization requires complex visual recognition or whether it can also be achieved with relatively simple neuronal mechanisms. we produce ... | 2017 | 28158189 |
| differential gene expression associated with honey bee grooming behavior in response to varroa mites. | honey bee (apis mellifera) grooming behavior is an important mechanism of resistance against the parasitic mite varroa destructor. this research was conducted to study associations between grooming behavior and the expression of selected immune, neural, detoxification, developmental and health-related genes. individual bees tested in a laboratory assay for various levels of grooming behavior in response to v. destructor were also analyzed for gene expression. intense groomers (ig) were most effi ... | 2017 | 28154949 |
| sexual response of male drosophila to honey bee queen mandibular pheromone: implications for genetic studies of social insects. | honey bees secrete a queen mandibular pheromone that renders workers reproductively altruistic and drones sexually attentive. this sex-specific function of qmp may have evolved from a sexually dimorphic signaling mechanism derived from pre-social ancestors. if so, there is potential for pre-social insects to respond to qmp, and in a manner that is comparable to its normal effect on workers and drones. remarkably, qmp applied to female drosophila does induce worker-like qualities [camiletti et al ... | 2017 | 28150219 |
| covert deformed wing virus infections have long-term deleterious effects on honeybee foraging and survival. | several studies have suggested that covert stressors can contribute to bee colony declines. here we provide a novel case study and show using radiofrequency identification tracking technology that covert deformed wing virus (dwv) infections in adult honeybee workers seriously impact long-term foraging and survival under natural foraging conditions. in particular, our experiments show that adult workers injected with low doses of dwv experienced increased mortality rates, that dwv caused workers ... | 2017 | 28148747 |
| reproductive biology and pollination ecology of triplaris gardneriana (polygonaceae): a case of ambophily in the brazilian chaco. | triplaris gardneriana (polygonaceae) is a dioecious pioneer tree reported as insect-pollinated, despite possessing traits related to anemophily. here, we analyse the possible roles of insects and wind on the pollination of this species to establish whether the species is ambophilous. we carried out observations of floral biology, as well as on the frequency and behaviour of pollinators visiting flowers in a population of t. gardneriana in the chaco vegetation of brazil. we conducted experimental ... | 2017 | 28145619 |
| honeybee locomotion is impaired by am-cav3 low voltage-activated ca(2+) channel antagonist. | voltage-gated ca(2+) channels are key transducers of cellular excitability and participate in several crucial physiological responses. in vertebrates, 10 ca(2+) channel genes, grouped in 3 families (cav1, cav2 and cav3), have been described and characterized. insects possess only one member of each family. these genes have been isolated in a limited number of species and very few have been characterized although, in addition to their crucial role, they may represent a collateral target for neuro ... | 2017 | 28145504 |
| sublethal pesticide doses negatively affect survival and the cellular responses in american foulbrood-infected honeybee larvae. | disclosing interactions between pesticides and bee infections is of most interest to understand challenges that pollinators are facing and to which extent bee health is compromised. here, we address the individual and combined effect that three different pesticides (dimethoate, clothianidin and fluvalinate) and an american foulbrood (afb) infection have on mortality and the cellular immune response of honeybee larvae. we demonstrate for the first time a synergistic interaction when larvae are ex ... | 2017 | 28145462 |
| blown by the wind: the ecology of male courtship display behavior in orchid bees. | many insects rely on chemical signals to transmit precise information on the location, identity, and quality of potential mates. chemical signals are often broadcasted at sites with physical properties that maximize signal propagation and signal transmission. male neotropical orchid bees (euglossini) perch and display on vertical branches and tree trunks in the forest to expose volatile blends (perfumes) that they previously collected from their environment. previous studies have shown that the ... | 2017 | 28144949 |
| molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium spp. isolated from gut of honeybees (apis mellifera) from west azerbaijan, iran. | polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (pcr-rflp) and phylogenetic analysis were used for molecular identification of lactic acid bacteria (labs) isolated from apis mellifera. eighteen honeybee workers were collected from three different apiaries in west azerbaijan. labs from the gut of honeybees were isolated and cultured using routine biochemical procedures. genomic dna was extracted from labs and a fragment of 1540 bp in size of 16s rrna gene was amplified. pcr ... | 2016 | 28144419 |
| beekeeping from antiquity through the middle ages. | beekeeping had its origins in honey hunting-the opportunistic stealing of honey from wild honey bee nests. true beekeeping began when humans started providing artificial cavities within which the bees could build comb for the queen to lay her eggs and the workers could process honey. by 2450 bce, the egyptians had developed sophisticated apiculture, and, within two millennia, beekeeping with horizontal hives had spread throughout the mediterranean. during europe's middle ages, honey and wax beca ... | 2017 | 28141962 |
| no effect of bt cry1ie toxin on bacterial diversity in the midgut of the chinese honey bees, apis cerana cerana (hymenoptera, apidae). | cry1ie protein derived from bacillus thuringiensis (bt) has been proposed as a promising candidate for the development of a new bt-maize variety to control maize pests in china. we studied the response of the midgut bacterial community of apis cerana cerana to cry1ie toxin under laboratory conditions. newly emerged bees were fed one of the following treatments for 15 and 30 days: three concentrations of cry1ie toxin (20 ng/ml, 200 ng/ml, and 20 μg/ml) in sugar syrup, pure sugar syrup as a negati ... | 2017 | 28139751 |
| asymmetric competition for nectar between a large nectar thief and a small pollinator: an energetic point of view. | there are two alternative hypotheses related to body size and competition for restricted food sources. the first one supposes that larger animals are superior competitors because of their increased feeding abilities, whereas the second one assumes superiority of smaller animals because of their lower food requirements. we examined the relationship between two unrelated species of different size, drinking technique, energy requirements and roles in plant pollination system, to reveal the features ... | 2017 | 28138819 |
| bees of the azores: an annotated checklist (apidae, hymenoptera). | we report 18 species of wild bees plus the domesticated honeybee from the azores, which adds nine species to earlier lists. one species, hylaeus azorae, seems to be a single island endemic, and three species are possibly native (colletes eous, halictus villosulus, and hylaeus pictipes). all the remaining bee species are most likely accidental introductions that arrived after human colonization of the archipelago in the 15(th) century. bee diversity in the azores is similar to bee diversity of ma ... | 2017 | 28138299 |
| the combined effects of a monotonous diet and exposure to thiamethoxam on the performance of bumblebee micro-colonies. | there is a pressing need to better understand the factors contributing to declines of wild pollinators such as bumblebees. many different contributors have been postulated including: loss of flower-rich habitats and nesting sites; monotonous diets; impacts of invasive pathogens; exposure to pesticides such as neonicotinoids. past research has tended to investigate the impacts of these stressors in isolation, despite the increasing recognition that bees are simultaneously exposed to a combination ... | 2017 | 28135666 |
| effects of season and population size on pollination and reproductive output in a mediterranean shrub. | pollinator guilds may change throughout extended flowering periods, affecting plant reproductive output, especially in seasonal climates. we hypothesised a seasonal shift in pollinator guild and an autumn reduction in pollinator abundance, especially in small and sparse populations. we recorded pollinator identity, abundance and behaviour in relation to flower density from plant to population throughout the extended flowering of ononis tridentata. we evaluated female reproductive output by recor ... | 2017 | 28135028 |
| temporal, but not spatial, changes in expression patterns of petal identity genes are associated with loss of papillate conical cells and the shift to bird pollination in macaronesian lotus (leguminosae). | in the generally bee-pollinated genus lotus a group of four species have evolved bird-pollinated flowers. the floral changes in these species include altered petal orientation, shape and texture. in lotus these characters are associated with dorsiventral petal identity, suggesting that shifts in the expression of dorsal identity genes may be involved in the evolution of bird pollination. of particular interest is lotus japonicus cycloidea 2 (ljcyc2), known to determine the presence of papillate ... | 2017 | 28135026 |
| lepidopteran hmg-coa reductase is a potential selective target for pest control. | as a consequence of the negative impacts on the environment of some insecticides, discovery of eco-friendly insecticides and target has received global attention in recent years. sequence alignment and structural comparison of the rate-limiting enzyme hmg-coa reductase (hmgr) revealed differences between lepidopteran pests and other organisms, which suggested insect hmgr could be a selective insecticide target candidate. inhibition of jh biosynthesis in vitro confirmed that hmgr inhibitors showe ... | 2017 | 28133568 |
| management of peripheral neuropathy induced by chemotherapy in adults with cancer: a review. | to identify which of the examined agents or modalities were effective in the management of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (cipn). | 2017 | 28132604 |
| genetic diversity in nannotrigona testaceicornis (hymenoptera: apidae) aggregations in southeastern brazil. | the meliponini, also known as stingless bees, are distributed in tropical and subtropical areas of the world and plays an essential role in pollinating many wild plants and crops these bees can build nests in cavities of trees or walls, underground or in associations with ants or termites; interestingly, these nests are sometimes found in aggregations. in order to assess the genetic diversity and structure in aggregates of nannotrigona testaceicornis (lepeletier), samples of this species were co ... | 2017 | 28130454 |
| high elevation refugia for bombus terricola (hymenoptera: apidae) conservation and wild bees of the white mountain national forest. | many wild bee species are in global decline, yet much is still unknown about their diversity and contemporary distributions. national parks and forests offer unique areas of refuge important for the conservation of rare and declining species populations. here we present the results of the first biodiversity survey of the bee fauna in the white mountain national forest (wmnf). more than a thousand specimens were collected from pan and sweep samples representing 137 species. three species were rec ... | 2017 | 28130453 |
| long-term course of failed back surgery syndrome (fbss) patients receiving integrative korean medicine treatment: a 1 year prospective observational multicenter study. | with increase of spine surgeries, failed back surgery syndrome (fbss) prevalence is also rising. while complementary and alternative medicine (cam) is commonly used for low back pain (lbp), there are no studies reporting use of integrative korean medicine in fbss patients. | 2017 | 28129399 |
| bee - keepers' dermatitis - sensitivity to propolis. | a patient working in the bee-keeping department developed contact dermatitis on. | 2017 | 28128148 |
| does honey have any salutary effect against streptozotocin - induced diabetes in rats? | diabetes is a global, growing and costly public health problem. in the literature, there are conflicting reports on the effect of consumption of bee honey on diabetes. we assessed the possible effect of a commercially available bee honey (given orally by gavage at doses of 1 g/kg/day for 4 weeks) on the blood concentrations of glucose, insulin and leptin and body weight of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. | 2017 | 28127544 |
| modified discrete grey wolf optimizer algorithm for multilevel image thresholding. | the computation of image segmentation has become more complicated with the increasing number of thresholds, and the option and application of the thresholds in image thresholding fields have become an np problem at the same time. the paper puts forward the modified discrete grey wolf optimizer algorithm (mdgwo), which improves on the optimal solution updating mechanism of the search agent by the weights. taking kapur's entropy as the optimized function and based on the discreteness of threshold ... | 2017 | 28127305 |
| evolution of novel sorbents for effective clean-up of honeybee matrix in highly toxic insecticide lc/ms/ms analysis. | highly toxic insecticides (htis) belonging to different chemical groups are dangerous to pollinating organisms, even in sublethal doses. an important objective of this study was to develop a method to determine over fifty htis at very low concentrations in the bee matrix. the novelty of this research involved obtaining extract completely free from beewaxes, lipids and proteins using emr-lipid (enhanced matrix removal-lipid), chitin and z-sep+ (zirconium oxide and c18 dual-bonded to silica) as cl ... | 2017 | 28126629 |
| weight of evidence evaluation of a network of adverse outcome pathways linking activation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in honey bees to colony death. | ongoing honey bee (apis mellifera) colony losses are of significant international concern because of the essential role these insects play in pollinating crops. both chemical and non-chemical stressors have been implicated as possible contributors to colony failure; however, the potential role(s) of commonly-used neonicotinoid insecticides has emerged as particularly concerning. neonicotinoids act on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nachrs) in the central nervous system to eliminate pest i ... | 2017 | 28126277 |
| a new method for quick and easy hemolymph collection from apidae adults. | bio-analysis of insects is increasingly dependent on highly sensitive methods that require high quality biological material, such as hemolymph. however, it is difficult to collect fresh and uncontaminated hemolymph from adult bees since they are very active and have the potential to sting, and because hemolymph is rapidly melanized. here we aimed to develop and test a quick and easy method for sterile and contamination-free hemolymph sampling from adult apidae. our novel antennae method for hemo ... | 2017 | 28125668 |
| mblk-1 transcription factor family: its roles in various animals and regulation by nol4 splice variants in mammals. | transcription factors play critical roles in regulation of neural development and functions. a transcription factor mblk-1 was previously reported from a screen for factors possibly important for the higher brain functions of the honeybee. this review first summarizes how mblk-1 was identified, and then provides an overview of the studies of mblk-1 and their homologs. mblk-1 family proteins are found broadly in animals and are shown to affect transcription activities. studies have revealed that ... | 2017 | 28125049 |
| a lévy-flight diffusion model to predict transgenic pollen dispersal. | the containment of genetically modified (gm) pollen is an issue of significant concern for many countries. for crops that are bee-pollinated, model predictions of outcrossing rates depend on the movement hypothesis used for the pollinators. previous work studying pollen spread by honeybees, the most important pollinator worldwide, was based on the assumption that honeybee movement can be well approximated by brownian motion. a number of recent studies, however, suggest that pollinating insects s ... | 2017 | 28123097 |
| early life stress affects mortality rate more than social behavior, gene expression or oxidative damage in honey bee workers. | early life stressors can affect aging and life expectancy in positive or negative ways. individuals can adjust their behavior and molecular physiology based on early life experiences but relatively few studies have connected such mechanisms to demographic patterns in social organisms. sociality buffers individuals from environmental influences and it is unclear how much early life stress affects later life history. workers of the honey bee (apis mellifera l.) were exposed to two stressors, varro ... | 2017 | 28122251 |
| evidence for positive selection and recombination hotspots in deformed wing virus (dwv). | deformed wing virus (dwv) is considered one of the most damaging pests in honey bees since the spread of its vector, varroa destructor. in this study, we sequenced the whole genomes of two virus isolates and studied the evolutionary forces that act on dwv genomes. the isolate from a varroa-tolerant bee colony was characterized by three recombination breakpoints between dwv and the closely related varroa destructor virus-1 (vdv-1), whereas the variant from the colony using conventional varroa man ... | 2017 | 28120868 |
| blockade of nmda receptors decreased spinal microglia activation in bee venom induced acute inflammatory pain in rats. | microglial cells in spinal dorsal horn can be activated by nociceptive stimuli and the activated microglial cells release various cytokines enhancing the nociceptive transmission. however, the mechanisms underlying the activation of spinal microglia during nociceptive stimuli have not been well understood. in order to define the role of nmda receptors in the activation of spinal microglia during nociceptive stimuli, the present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of blockade of nmda r ... | 2017 | 28120640 |
| erratum to: inhibitory effects of bee venom and its components against viruses in vitro and in vivo. | 2017 | 28120196 | |
| risk assessment of various insecticides used for management of asian citrus psyllid, diaphorina citri in florida citrus, against honey bee, apis mellifera. | the asian citrus psyllid, diaphorina citri kuwayama (hemiptera: liviidae), is a major pest of citrus trees worldwide. a wide variety of insecticides are used to manage d. citri populations within citrus groves in florida. however, in areas shared by citrus growers and beekeepers the use of insecticides may increase the risks of apis mellifera l. (hymenoptera: apidae) loss and contaminated honey. the objective of this research was to determine the environmental toxicity of insecticides, spanning ... | 2017 | 28116643 |
| fatty acid and proximate composition of bee bread. | palynological spectrum, proximate and fatty acid (fa) composition of eight bee bread samples of different botanical origins were examined and significant variations were observed. the samples were all identified as monofloral, namely castanea sativa (94.4%), trifolium spp. (85.6%), gossypium hirsutum (66.2%), citrus spp. (61.4%) and helianthus annuus (45.4%). each had moisture content between 11.4 and 15.9%, ash between 1.9 and 2.54%, fat between 5.9 and 11.5%, and protein between 14.8 and 24.3% ... | 2016 | 28115909 |
| regulation of genes related to immune signaling and detoxification in apis mellifera by an inhibitor of histone deacetylation. | the western honeybee (apis mellifera) is essential for the global economy due to its important role in ecosystems and agriculture as a pollinator of numerous flowering plants and crops. pesticide abuse has greatly impacted honeybees and caused tremendous loss of honeybee colonies worldwide. the reasons for colony loss remain unclear, but involvement of pesticides and pathogen-pesticide interactions has been hypothesized. histone deacetylase inhibitors (hdacis) inhibit the activity of histone ace ... | 2017 | 28112264 |
| why bees are so vulnerable to environmental stressors. | bee populations are declining in the industrialized world, raising concerns for the sustainable pollination of crops. pesticides, pollutants, parasites, diseases, and malnutrition have all been linked to this problem. we consider here neurobiological, ecological, and evolutionary reasons why bees are particularly vulnerable to these environmental stressors. central-place foraging on flowers demands advanced capacities of learning, memory, and navigation. however, even at low intensity levels, ma ... | 2017 | 28111032 |
| visual adaptations for mate detection in the male carpenter bee xylocopa tenuiscapa. | sexual dimorphism in eye structure is attributed to sexual selection in animals that employ vision for locating mates. in many male insects, large eyes and eye regions of higher acuity are believed to facilitate the location of females. here, we compare various features of male and female eyes in three sympatric carpenter bee species, which include two diurnal species (xylocopa tenuiscapa and x. leucothorax) as well as a nocturnal species (x. tranquebarica). in x. tenuiscapa, males have larger e ... | 2017 | 28107354 |
| immunology of bee venom. | bee venom is a blend of biochemicals ranging from small peptides and enzymes to biogenic amines. it is capable of triggering severe immunologic reactions owing to its allergenic fraction. venom components are presented to the t cells by antigen-presenting cells within the skin. these th2 type t cells then release il-4 and il-13 which subsequently direct b cells to class switch to production of ige. generating venom-specific ige and crosslinking fcεr1(s) on the surface of mast cells complete the ... | 2017 | 28105558 |