Decoupling the effects of nutrition, age and behavioral caste on honey bee physiology and immunity

Miguel Corona; Belen Branchiccela; Shayne Madella; Yanping Chen; Jay Evans

152 In this study, we used pollen-restricted colonies as a model to study the nutritional stress 153 conditions occurring in colonies within intensively cultivated agricultural areas. We used a new 154 technique for colony establishment, which allow us to uncouple the effects of age, behavior and 155 nutrition. We first analyzed the effect of pollen restriction on foraging and brood production and 156 then we used qPCR to analyze the role of pollen restriction on molecular markers of nutrition, 157 immune gene expression and dynamic of viral infection. Finally, we used a multidimensional 158 analysis to show that nutrition has a major role in the dynamics of key genes associated with 159 behavior, nutrition and immunity. This study opens new avenues in the understanding of the 168 Both groups of pollen-restricted (P-R) and pollen-unrestricted (P-UR) bees started foraging when 169 they were 11 days old. Observations were continued until the bees were 20 days old. During the 170 total observation period, the average number of new foragers observed in the P-R colonies was This article is a US Government work. It is not subject to copyright under 17 USC 105 and is also made available for use under a CC0 license.