Abstract
The Asiatic honeybee, Apis cerana Fabricius, is an important honeybee species in Asian countries. It is still found in the wild, but is also one of the few bee species that can be domesticated. It has acquired some genetic advantages and significantly different biological characteristics compared with other Apis species. However, it has been less studied, and over the past two decades, has become a threatened species in China. We designed primers for the sequences of the four antimicrobial peptide cDNA gene families (abaecin, defensin, apidaecin, and hymenoptaecin) of the Western honeybee, Apis mellifera L. and identified all the antimicrobial peptide cDNA genes in the Asiatic honeybee for the first time. All the sequences were amplified by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In all, 29 different defensin cDNA genes coding 7 different defensin peptides, 11 different abaecin cDNA genes coding 2 different abaecin peptides, 13 different apidaecin cDNA genes coding 4 apidaecin peptides and 34 different hymenoptaecin cDNA genes coding 13 different hymenoptaecin peptides were cloned and identified from the Asiatic honeybee adult workers. Detailed comparison of these four antimicrobial peptide gene families with those of the Western honeybee revealed that there are many similarities in the quantity and amino acid components of peptides in the abaecin, defensin and apidaecin families, while many more hymenoptaecin peptides are found in the Asiatic honeybee than those in the Western honeybee (13 versus 1). The results indicated that the Asiatic honeybee adult generated more variable antimicrobial peptides, especially hymenoptaecin peptides than the Western honeybee when stimulated by pathogens or injury. This suggests that, compared to the Western honeybee that has a longer history of domestication, selection on the Asiatic honeybee has favored the generation of more variable antimicrobial peptides as protection against pathogens.
Highlights
The honeybee is a eusocial insect whose role in plant pollination is essential to global ecology
Twothirds (20/29) of the cDNA genes coded the major peptide AcDe4, and one or two cDNA genes coded for defensin peptides AcDe1,AcDe3 and AcDe5,AcDe7
All of the inferred mature peptide sequences are highly homologous with the Western honeybee two defensin peptides (AmDe1 coded by one defensin cDNA gene, GenBank: U15955, and AmDe2 coded by one defensin cDNA gene, GenBank: AAR01214) and the royalisin peptide [26] (Figure 1A)
Summary
The honeybee is a eusocial insect whose role in plant pollination is essential to global ecology. The discovery of a 100-million-year-old amber fossil pushes back the date that bees began pollinating flowers by millions of years [2], species of Apis are much younger than this Honeybees defend their nest, brood and stored food through many complicated and efficient defensive behaviors [3], but populations have decreased rapidly in many countries in recent years. Brood and stored food through many complicated and efficient defensive behaviors [3], but populations have decreased rapidly in many countries in recent years Explanations for this decline include global warming caused by the greenhouse effect, indiscriminate use of pesticides, reduction or extinction of plant species and other human-induced disturbances.
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