Lewisburg, Pennsylvania — The bees are back in town! Many of Pennsylvania’s bee species emerge during his March-April months and are important for pollinating the fruits of native plants and trees, but bee populations are endangered.
U.S. beekeepers reported losing 45.5% of their bee colonies from April 2020 to April 2021, according to the results of a national survey by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership .
There are fewer bees than there used to be, and fewer North American pollinators in general. And there are several possible explanations.
A team of Bucknell University researchers is now using new approaches to understand the complex factors that influence the health and behavior of bees and native pollinators. So it’s inside the bee’s head, or brain.
Researchers are using a method called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to measure changes in metabolic stress in the brains of honeybees that are involved in colony collapse disorders.
Three Bucknell science faculty members and six students who are part of the research team have already published two papers on their research, the latest in the journal Metabolites.
“There are many factors that have been cited as contributing to declining honeybee populations, including pesticides, mites, viruses and climate change,” said lead author Jayne McDevitt ’22 in the Department of Cell Biology/Biochemistry. I’m here. in metabolite studies.
“Therefore, through research, we are working to better understand the impact of these factors by clarifying metabolic differences between healthy and diseased bees.”
Bucknell’s team used the university’s 600 MHz spectrometer to analyze soluble metabolites (metabolic by-products) from bee brain extracted from bee samples to determine the bee’s health.
Research analyzes establish baseline data to help researchers distinguish between metabolites found in healthy bees and those in sick bees that show signs of stress.
“We hope to use this information to develop protocols and methodologies for discovering biomarkers that may differ between healthy and diseased bees,” McDevitt said.
The metabolites paper complemented research led by Professor of Biology Marie Pizzorno, published in the journal last year. virus, showing the effects of viral infection on the honeybee brain. It has been reported that protein expression in the brain was significantly altered by viral infection.
“One of the things our previous study showed is that the brains of infected bees are really messed up,” says Pizzorno, who is also a co-author of the Metabolite study. “Additionally, honeybees produce antimicrobial peptides when they are sick, so the metabolome (the total number of metabolites present in the organism) shows signs of viral infection. One of these proteins is proline (the amino acid) very abundant.”
Through a collaborative study of infected honeybees, and an ongoing study of several research hives at Bucknell using NMR metabolomics, the team hopes researchers, and potentially beekeepers, can better understand hive health. establishing a biomarker standard that can be used in the future to If you can determine that your hive is unhealthy, you may be able to restore it by feeding it.
“Honeybees can selectively eat what is good for them. For example, if they need more proline, they will selectively choose floral resources,” said co-author of both studies. One Biology and Ethology Professor Beth Capaldi said: “So one of the interesting things about this developing study is how honeybees self-medicate through what they eat to protect themselves from viruses. It can help protect yourself.”
Bucknell’s work is a breakthrough for assessing bee health.
“From a technology standpoint, this is a new way to measure bee health,” said co-author of both studies, Professor of Chemistry David Rovnyak. “A beekeeper may be looking at 10 hives and struggling to make sense of the different stresses each is going through. Overall, we are now able to measure the health of a single bee or hive in a way that was not possible before.”
According to Rovnyak, the predictability of biomarkers may one day allow beekeepers to determine the health of their hives and send samples for testing to treat them before they incur major losses. I can’t.
Bucknell researchers are working on the latest project to develop honeybee metabolomics measurements with new magnetic resonance techniques, including collaboration with co-author Dr. Amy Freund, senior applications scientist at Bruker BioSpin. I am continuing my research.
