Review of the Expression of Antimicrobial Peptide Defensin in Honey Bees Apis Mellifera L.

Aleksandr Poskryakov,Elena Saltykova,Louisa Gaifullina,Rustem Ilyasov,Alexei Nikolenko

doi:10.2478/v10289-012-0013-y

Abstract

Review of the Expression of Antimicrobial Peptide Defensin in Honey Bees Apis Mellifera L.Honey bees defensin have a high level of polymorphism and exist as two peptides - defensin 1 and 2. Defensin 1 is synthesized in the salivary glands and is responsible for social immunity. Defensin 2 is synthesized by cells of the fat body and hemolymph is responsible for individual immunity. Defensins are inducible and controlled by the interaction of Toll and Imd signaling pathways and have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial action. The use of chitosan as an immunomodulator has been shown to lead to an increase in the expression levels of defensin and abaecin in the honey bee organism. Stimulation of the transcriptional activity of the defensin genes will allow for the control of a honey bee colony's immunity level, and reduce the using of antibiotics and other chemicals.

Highlights

Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are important components of the honey bee immune system (Hoffmann et al, 1999)
At present four types of AMP are found in bees: apidaecin presented by twelve isoforms (Casteels et al, 1989), abaecin (Casteels et al, 1990), hymenoptaecin (Casteels et al, 1993) and defensin presented by two isoforms - defensin 1 and 2 (Casteels et al, 1993; CasteelsJosson et al, 1994; Qu et al, 2008)
Honey bee defensins have a high level of polymorphism, and exists in two forms defensin 1 and 2

Summary

Honey bees defensin have a high level of polymorphism and exist as two peptides - defensin 1 and 2. Defensin 1 is synthesized in the salivary glands and is responsible for social immunity. Defensin 2 is synthesized by cells of the fat body and hemolymph is responsible for individual immunity. Defensins are inducible and controlled by the interaction of Toll and Imd signaling pathways and have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial action. The use of chitosan as an immunomodulator has been shown to lead to an increase in the expression levels of defensin and abaecin in the honey bee organism. Stimulation of the transcriptional activity of the defensin genes will allow for the control of a honey bee colony’s immunity level, and reduce the using of antibiotics and other chemicals

INTRODUCTION

CONCLUSIONS