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Inbred and outbred honey bees (Apis mellifera) have similar innate immune responses

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Abstract

Social insect colonies provide ideal conditions for the spread of pathogens. It has been proposed that the extreme polyandry and genetic diversity seen in the colonies of some eusocial insect species is central to a colony’s defence against disease. Indeed, empirically, colonies headed by polyandrous queens have lower incidence of pathogens than genetically uniform monoandrous colonies. The mechanisms of improved resistance in genetically diverse colonies could arise from the genetic diversity among worker genotypes or from increased innate immunity arising from heterozygosity at immune gene loci within individual workers. Here, we investigate the effects of heterozygosity on two components of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) innate immune system: encapsulation and phenoloxidase (PO) activity. No significant effect of heterozygosity on immune system activity was evident for either encapsulation or PO activity. Thus, we conclude that while encapsulation and PO activity are important components of the immune response, it seems that they do not underlie the positive effects of genetic diversity on parasite and pathogen resistance in honey bees.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Michael Duncan for technical assistance and Peter M. McGee for his comments on the manuscript. MJFB was funded by a BBSRC ISIS grant BB/J019453/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Macleay Building A12, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    G. M. Lee & B. P. Oldroyd

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK

    M. J. F. Brown

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  1. G. M. Lee
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  2. M. J. F. Brown
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  3. B. P. Oldroyd
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Correspondence to B. P. Oldroyd.

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Lee, G.M., Brown, M.J.F. & Oldroyd, B.P. Inbred and outbred honey bees (Apis mellifera) have similar innate immune responses. Insect. Soc. 60, 97–102 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-012-0271-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-012-0271-5

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