ArticleCurrent biology : CB2018
Unravelling the Molecular Determinants of Bee Sensitivity to Neonicotinoid Insecticides.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 109 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
109 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 316 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparability of comparative toxicity: insect sensitivity to imidacloprid reveals huge variations across species but also within species.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Protective effects of rosmarinic acid against carbaryl-exposed toxicity in honey bees (Apis mellifera): histopathological and molecular docking evidence.Veterinary research communications · 2026Article
- Species-specific brain transcriptomic responses to clothianidin and sulfoxaflor in pollinators.iScience · 2026Article
- Disruption of Antioxidant Defense Systems in Honey Bees and Wild Bees Under Environmental Xenobiotic Pressure.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Structural and Functional Insights into a Honey Bee Omega-Class Glutathione S-Transferase Mediating Chemical Sequestration and Antioxidative Stress.Journal of agricultural and food chemistry · 2026Article
- The Effects of Thiacloprid on Essential Components of Navigation and Pollination in Bumble Bees: A Laboratory Approach.Insects · 2026Article
- Comparative lipidomic and proteomic analysis reveals species-specific differences in midgut composition and insecticide absorption between Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris.Pest management science · 2026Article
- Complex Roles of Insect Cytochrome P450s in Chemical Adaptation.International journal of biological sciences · 2026Review
- Honey Bee Colony Health in Thiamethoxam-Treated Sugar Beet Fields: A Field-Based Case Study.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Insecticide susceptibility of Japanese mason bees (Journal of pesticide science · 2025Article
- Pesticide and Pathogen Exposure Causes Idiosyncratic Gene Expression Responses Across Four Diverse North American Bumble Bee Species.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- The Sublethal Effects of Neonicotinoids on Honeybees.Biology · 2025Review
- Transcriptional Analysis ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Investigation of an algae-derived polymer as a pollinator-friendly pesticide adjuvant.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Chronic Exposure to Field-Level Thiamethoxam Impairs Gut Tissue and Reduces Honeybee (Insects · 2025Article
- Acute and chronic pesticide exposure trigger fundamentally different molecular responses in bumble bee brains.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Exploring curcumin and rosmarinic acid as potential antidotes for pesticide-induced harm to honey bees.Frontiers in insect science · 2025Article
- Field-evolved resistance to neonicotinoids in the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, is associated with mutations of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits combined with cytochrome P450-mediated detoxification.Pesticide biochemistry and physiology · 2024Article
- Glutathione S-transferase TcGSTu1 contributes to defense against eucalyptol in Tribolium castaneum.Genetica · 2024Article
- Impact of Sublethal Insecticides Exposure onInsects · 2024Article
49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The impact of neonicotinoid insecticides on the health of bee pollinators is a topic of intensive research and considerable current debate [1]. As insecticides, certain neonicotinoids, i.e., N-nitroguanidine compounds such as imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, are as intrinsically toxic to bees as to the insect pests they target. However, this is not the case for all neonicotinoids, with honeybees orders of magnitude less sensitive to N-cyanoamidine compounds such as thiacloprid [2]. Although previous work has suggested that this is due to rapid metabolism of these compounds [2-5], the specific gene(s) or enzyme(s) involved remain unknown. Here, we show that the sensitivity of the two most economically important bee species to neonicotinoids is determined by cytochrome P450s of the CYP9Q subfamily. Radioligand binding and inhibitor assays showed that variation in honeybee sensitivity to N-nitroguanidine and N-cyanoamidine neonicotinoids does not reside in differences in their affinity for the receptor but rather in divergent metabolism by P450s. Functional expression of the entire CYP3 clade of P450s from honeybees identified a single P450, CYP9Q3, that metabolizes thiacloprid with high efficiency but has little activity against imidacloprid. We demonstrate that bumble bees also exhibit profound differences in their sensitivity to different neonicotinoids, and we identify CYP9Q4 as a functional ortholog of honeybee CYP9Q3 and a key metabolic determinant of neonicotinoid sensitivity in this species. Our results demonstrate that bee pollinators are equipped with biochemical defense systems that define their sensitivity to insecticides and this knowledge can be leveraged to safeguard bee health.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.