Abstract
Recently, the Korean sacbrood virus (KSBV) caused great loss of honeybee colonies in Korean Apis mellifera. Three antimicrobial peptide genes (AMPs) (abaecin (ABA), defensin (DEF) and hymenoptaecin (HYM)) and two immune-related enzyme genes (phenol-oxidase (PO) and lysozyme (LYS)) were investigated using qRT-PCR as a measure of the defense reactions of honeybee larvae and adults challenged with KSBV in vitro. Transcript levels of three AMPs were upregulated in adults exposed to KSBV, compared to control adults. ABA and DEF transcripts were 22.7 and 21.9 fold higher (P<0.05), respectively, after 24h exposure while HYM transcript did not change significantly. At this time point, PO and LYS mRNA levels were 18.08 and 16.03 fold higher, respectively, in KSBVinfected adult bees compared to control adults (P<0.05). By contrast, the larvae infected with KSBV had downregulated expression of AMPs and slight up-regulation of PO and LYS compared to the controls. These results suggest that the differential expression of the genes studied could indicate their involvement in defense processes against KSBV in adult and larva bees.
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