Analysis of antioxidant enzymes and total antioxidant capacity in the midgut of Africanized Apis mellifera selected for tolerance to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam

W C S Pizzaia,A A Sinópolis-Giglioli,T O Diniz,V A A Toledo,N C Pereira,B G Silva,M C C Ruvolo-Takasusuki,A S Khatlab,E Gasparino

doi:10.36560/131020201228

W C S Pizzaia, A A Sinópolis-Giglioli + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.36560/131020201228

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Abstract

Agrochemicals are considered one of the factors responsible for the decline of bee population in the world, causing a huge amount of losses. The organism of these insects seeks an alternative for their survival and adaptive factors can be triggered, such as the action of antioxidant substances, which can promote protection via the digestive system. This study aimed to evaluate the enzymatic activity and total antioxidant capacity in the midgut of adult Apis mellifera workers that had been selected since 2015 to be tolerant to the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam. For this, tolerant and non-tolerant honeybees were contaminated with thiamethoxam for 24 hours. Then the midgut was dissected for the enzymatic analysis. The results obtained showed that tolerant bees presented a significant result regarding the enzymatic activity and total antioxidant capacity for the reduction of damage caused by thiamethoxam when compared to the non-tolerant group.

Highlights

Apis mellifera is an important insect due to their pollination activity, a process that ensures biodiversity maintenance and contributes to increasing crops productivity
The results obtained showed that tolerant bees presented a significant result regarding the enzymatic activity and total antioxidant capacity for the reduction of damage caused by thiamethoxam when compared to the non-tolerant group
Insects have effective defense mechanisms, which can be expressed by a set of enzymes that seek to promote the removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated in large quantities when the insect is under stress and causing oxidative stress

Summary

Introduction

Apis mellifera is an important insect due to their pollination activity, a process that ensures biodiversity maintenance and contributes to increasing crops productivity. Pollination work in Brazil is an essential factor for development of several crops. Giannini et al (2015) analyzed 141 crops and identified that 85 had some type of dependence on pollinators, with almost one-third of the analyzed crops considered greatly dependent or essentially dependent on pollinators. The pollination services provided by honeybees accounts for 30% of the annual production value of pollinator-dependent crops. The use of agrochemicals to minimize pest damage in crops ends up aggressively affecting foragers bees that are exposed to these agrochemicals and bring the substance to the colony, spreading the it and leading to their decline (Williamson et al, 2014; Sanchez-Bayo et al.; 2016)

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