| Popis: |
Abstract In this study, we conducted a transcriptional analysis of five honey bee genes to examine their functional involvement vis-à-vis ambient temperatures and exposure to imidacloprid. In a 15-day cage experiment, three cohorts of one-day-old sister bees emerged in incubators, were distributed into cages, and maintained at three different temperatures (26 °C, 32 °C, 38 °C). Each cohort was fed a protein patty and three concentrations of imidacloprid-tainted sugar (0 ppb, 5 ppb and 20 ppb) ad libitum. Honey bee mortality, syrup and patty consumption were monitored daily over 15 days. Bees were sampled every three days for a total of five time points. RT-qPCR was used to longitudinally assess gene regulation of Vg, mrjp1, Rsod, AChE-2 and Trx-1 using RNA extracted from whole bee bodies. Kaplan–Meier models show that bees kept at both non-optimal temperatures (26 °C and 38 °C) were more susceptible to imidacloprid, with significantly higher mortality (P |
