U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            DeCanini, Lauraitem
                                            Collins, Anitaitem
                                            Evans, Jay
  Submitted to: Journal of Heredity
                                    Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2006
                                    Publication  Date: 8/16/2007
                                    Citation: Decanini, L.I., Collins, A.M., Evans, J.D. 2007. Variation and heritability in immune-gene expression by diseased honey bees. Journal of Heredity. 98:195-201.Interpretive Summary: American foulbrood disease (AFB) is a widespread larval disease in honey bees. We exposed larval bees from several commercial honey bee lineages to the bacterial cause of AFB, then scored these bees for both survival and their abilities to mount an immune response.  A three-generation breeding scheme was used to determine whether these traits were heritable and therefore suitable for breeding.  It was shown that disease resistance can be significantly improved in bees, even after a single round of mating.  This paper is part of a long term project to identify genetic traits that help honey bees resist AFB.  The results will help bee breeders improve their stock, reducing the need for antibiotics and other controls for this disease.
                                Technical Abstract: Social insects are frequent targets for pathogens and have consequently evolved diverse ways to minimize pathogen impacts, one of which is the innate immune response.  A mechanistic understanding of this response can help clarify population-level variation in immunity as well as a key general feature of social insects, genetic relatedness among nest mates.  A controlled mating scheme was carried out to assess the efficacy and heritability of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) immune response against a natural pathogen.  Daughters (queens) from a singly-mated queen were out crossed to haploid males from a total of 26 different genetic sources.  Larval offspring from these matings (n= 36 colonies, 1728 individuals), as well as offspring of field colonies (n = 125 colonies, 3696 individuals) were then challenged with a widespread bee pathogen, the gram-positive bacterium Paenibacillus larvae larvae.  Following bacterial challenge, a subset of larvae was collected for gene-expression analyses while others were scored for growth and survivorship.  Heritability estimates for both larval survival and expression of the gene encoding the antibacterial peptide abaecin are moderately high, ~ 0.4 and 0.3, respectively.  This suggests ongoing selection, and possible frequency-dependent selection, at genes involved in the immune response.  Progeny scores showed high inter- and intra-sib ship variance, indicating epistatic and/or synergistic relationships among the genes involved in the immune response.  The results support current models which predict that levels of immune effectors reflect amplified differences due to minor variation found in immune-pathway members.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov