Thinking inside the box: Restoring the propolis envelope facilitates honey bee social immunity.

Autor: Shanahan M; Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America., Simone-Finstrom M; Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America., Tokarz P; Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America., Rinkevich F; Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America., Read QD; United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Southeast Area, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America., Spivak M; Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Jan 31; Vol. 19 (1), pp. e0291744. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jan 31 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291744
Abstrakt: When wild honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) nest in hollow tree cavities, they coat the rough cavity walls with a continuous layer of propolis, a substance comprised primarily of plant resins. Studies have shown that the resulting "propolis envelope" leads to both individual- and colony-level health benefits. Unfortunately, the smooth wooden boxes most commonly used in beekeeping do little to stimulate propolis collection. As a result, most managed bees live in hives that are propolis-poor. In this study, we assessed different surface texture treatments (rough wood boxes, boxes outfitted with propolis traps, and standard, smooth wood boxes) in terms of their ability to stimulate propolis collection, and we examined the effect of propolis on colony health, pathogen loads, immune gene expression, bacterial gene expression, survivorship, and honey production in both stationary and migratory beekeeping contexts. We found that rough wood boxes are the most effective box type for stimulating propolis deposition. Although the use of rough wood boxes did not improve colony survivorship overall, Melissococcus plutonius detections via gene expression were significantly lower in rough wood boxes, and viral loads for multiple viruses tended to decrease as propolis deposition increased. By the end of year one, honey bee populations in migratory rough box colonies were also significantly larger than those in migratory control colonies. The use of rough wood boxes did correspond with decreased honey production in year one migratory colonies but had no effect during year two. Finally, in both stationary and migratory operations, propolis deposition was correlated with a seasonal decrease and/or stabilization in the expression of multiple immune and bacterial genes, suggesting that propolis-rich environments contribute to hive homeostasis. These findings provide support for the practical implementation of rough box hives as a means to enhance propolis collection and colony health in multiple beekeeping contexts.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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