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Modification of the brain proteome of Africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera) exposed to a sub‐lethal doses of the insecticide fipronil

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Abstract

Fipronil is a phenylpyrazole insecticide that is widely used in Brazilian agriculture for pest control. Although honeybees are not targets of fipronil, studies indicate that this pesticide can be harmful to honeybees. To assess the effects of fipronil in the brain of Africanized Apis mellifera workers, this study focused on the toxico-proteome profiling of the brain of newly emerged and aged honeybee workers that were exposed to a sub-lethal dose (10 pg fipronil per day. i.e. 1/100 of LD50/bee/day during 5 days) of the insecticide. Proteomic analysis identified 25 proteins that were differentially up-regulated or down-regulated when the fipronil-exposed and non-exposed groups were compared. These proteins are potentially related to pathogen susceptibility, neuronal chemical stress, neuronal protein misfolding, and occurrence of apoptosis, ischemia, visual impairment, damaged synapse formation, brain degeneration, memory and learning impairment. The exposure of honeybees to a very low dose of fipronil, even for a short period of time (5 days), was sufficient to cause a series of important neuroproteomic changes in the brains of honeybees.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants from FAPESP (Proc. 2008/05018-7 and 2012/13370-8), BIOprospecTA/FAPESP program (Proc. 11/51684-1), CNPq and CAPES. M.S.P. and O.M. are researchers from the National Research Council of Brazil-CNPq. T.C.R., L.D.S. and K.S.S. were Postdoctoral fellows from FAPESP, and J.R.A.S.P is Ph.D. student fellow from FAPESP.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biosciences of Rio Claro, Department of Biology, Center of the Study of Social Insects, University of São Paulo State (UNESP), Avenida 24-A, N.1515-Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil

    T. C. Roat, J. R. A. dos Santos-Pinto, O. Malaspina & M. S. Palma

  2. Center for the Study of Venoms and Venomous Animals (CEVAP), University of São Paulo State (UNESP), Botucatu, SP, Brazil

    L. D. dos Santos

  3. Discipline of Allergy and Immunology (HC/Incor/FMUSP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    K. S. Santos

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  1. T. C. Roat
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  2. J. R. A. dos Santos-Pinto
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  5. O. Malaspina
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Correspondence to T. C. Roat.

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Roat, T.C., dos Santos-Pinto, J.R.A., dos Santos, L.D. et al. Modification of the brain proteome of Africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera) exposed to a sub‐lethal doses of the insecticide fipronil. Ecotoxicology 23, 1659–1670 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1305-8

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