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

888 Our analyses of the correlations among the expression of immune genes and viral titers with 889 physiological genes associated with behavioral state revealed that the immune genes and DWV 890 exhibited strong negative correlations with genes associated with nursing, but positive 891 correlations with genes associated with foraging ( Figure 8 ). These results emphasize the role of 892 nutrition on worker behavioral development and their consequences for honey bee immunity and 893 susceptibility to pathogenic infections. Finally, the results obtained by the NMDS analysis further 894 support the conclusion that behavioral state is the most important factor associated with the 895 expression of immune genes and viral titers. Overall, we provide important insights into the 896 mechanisms by which nutrition, behavior and age alter the expression of key genes involved in 897 the regulation of honey bee physiology and immunity, which are expected to contribute to a 898 better understanding of the effects of nutritional stress on colony health.