ArticleBMC genomics2011
Nutrigenomics in honey bees: digital gene expression analysis of pollen's nutritive effects on healthy and varroa-parasitized bees.
Article in BMC genomics, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 102 papers.
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Who cites it
102 citing papers in PubMed, 248 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcriptomic Analysis of Hemolymph in Pollen-Foraging and Non-Pollen-ForagingAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- From Pollen to Pathogen Defense: How Pollen Chemical Quality Impacts Deformed Wing Virus Infection and Survival in Honey Bees.Viruses · 2026Review
- Honey bee nutritranscriptomics reveals key insights towards precision nutrition.Journal of advanced research · 2026Article
- Impact of Monofloral Pollen Diets on the Development of Hypopharyngeal Glands and Modulation of Enzymatic, Non-Enzymatic, and Ionic Biomarker Activities in Selected Fat Body Segments and Hemolymph ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The serotonin receptor AmFrontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- A propolis-rich hive environment affects redox gene expression and gut microbiota at the individual and social level in honey bees.FEMS microbes · 2026Article
- Innate defense mechanisms against Nosema ceranae in hygienic honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies.PloS one · 2026Article
- Analysis of Panels of Chemical Biomarkers in the Honeybee in Hemolymph and Fat Body in Response to Physiological and Environmental Factors.Metabolites · 2025Review
- Synergistic effects of pollen grains on several vital life parameters of Amblyseius swirskii when preying upon Tetranychus urticae.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Parasitic dynamics of Varroa destructor and Nosema spp. and their associations with the health of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in small-scale apiaries in Argentina.Veterinary research communications · 2025Article
- Landscape-Wide Metabarcoding Shows Interactions Among the Gut Microbiome and Pollen Diversity in the Invasive Bumblebee,Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
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- Molecular Assessment of Genes Linked to Honeybee Health Fed with Different Diets in Nuclear Colonies.Insects · 2025Article
- Effects of pollen patties with curcumin-steviol glycoside complex onJournal of animal science and technology · 2025Article
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- Vitellogenins Level as a Biomarker of the Honeybee Colony Strength in Urban and Rural Conditions.Insects · 2024Article
- Diversity and Chemical Characterization of Apple (Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Thioredoxin System in Insects: Uncovering the Roles of Thioredoxins and Thioredoxin Reductase beyond the Antioxidant Defences.Insects · 2024Review
- Effect ofInsects · 2024Article
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMalnutrition is a major factor affecting animal health, resistance to disease and survival. In honey bees (Apis mellifera), pollen, which is the main dietary source of proteins, amino acids and lipids, is essential to adult bee physiological development while reducing their susceptibility to parasites and pathogens. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying pollen's nutritive impact on honey bee health remained to be determined. For that purpose, we investigated the influence of pollen nutrients on the transcriptome of worker bees parasitized by the mite Varroa destructor, known for suppressing immunity and decreasing lifespan. The 4 experimental groups (control bees without a pollen diet, control bees fed with pollen, varroa-parasitized bees without a pollen diet and varroa-parasitized bees fed with pollen) were analyzed by performing a digital gene expression (DGE) analysis on bee abdomens.
resultsAround 36, 000 unique tags were generated per DGE-tag library, which matched about 8, 000 genes (60% of the genes in the honey bee genome). Comparing the transcriptome of bees fed with pollen and sugar and bees restricted to a sugar diet, we found that pollen activates nutrient-sensing and metabolic pathways. In addition, those nutrients had a positive influence on genes affecting longevity and the production of some antimicrobial peptides. However, varroa parasitism caused the development of viral populations and a decrease in metabolism, specifically by inhibiting protein metabolism essential to bee health. This harmful effect was not reversed by pollen intake.
conclusionsThe DGE-tag profiling methods used in this study proved to be a powerful means for analyzing transcriptome variation related to nutrient intake in honey bees. Ultimately, with such an approach, applying genomics tools to nutrition research, nutrigenomics promises to offer a better understanding of how nutrition influences body homeostasis and may help reduce the susceptibility of bees to (less virulent) pathogens.
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