Abstract
There are increasing concerns regarding the impact of agrochemical pesticides on non-target organisms. Pesticides could cause honeybee abnormal development in response to neurotoxins such as neonicotinoid. However, knowledge of carbendazim, a widespread fungicide in beekeeping practice, influencing on honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) brain development is lacking. Large-scale transcriptome approaches were applied to determine the changes in global gene expression in the brains of newly emerged honeybees after carbendazim exposure during the larval stage. To further understand the effects of carbendazim on the brain development of honeybees, the functions of differentially expressed genes were compared between the treatment and control groups. We found that neuroregulatory genes were down-regulated after carbendazim exposure, which suggest the neurotoxic effects of this fungicide on honeybee nervous system. Carbendazim exposure also altered the expression of genes implicated in metabolism, transport, sensor, and hormone. Notably, larvae in the carbendazim-treated group observed longer time to shift into the dormant pupal state than the control group. Moreover, a low juvenile hormone and high ecdysone titers were found in the treatment group compared to control group. The data is the first report of neurotoxic effects on honeybee caused by carbendazim, and the sublethal carbendazim may disturb honeybee development and is a potential chemical threating the honeybee colonies.
Highlights
Bees are pollinators of great social, economic, and ecological importance in agricultural production and biodiversity maintenance (Potts et al, 2010)
Honeybees were exposed to the fungicide carbendazim to assess and evaluate its sublethal effects
Among the 247 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified after carbendazim exposure (5 ng mg−1), using a rigorous quantitative strategy via RNA-Seq, 187 were upregulated and 60 were downregulated in the treated group compared with the control group
Summary
Bees are pollinators of great social, economic, and ecological importance in agricultural production and biodiversity maintenance (Potts et al, 2010). Neurotoxicant and neonicotinoids are known to severely disturb the honeybee nervous system, including synaptic transmission, navigation, and learning ability (Jin et al, 2015; Stanley et al, 2016; Wu et al, 2017). These behavioral changes usually result in colony failure and they have raised public awareness regarding honeybees’ health and welfare. Europe strengthened the ban on bee-harming pesticides in response to the concern that the toxicity of these chemicals increases over time
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