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A Genetically Modified Anti-Plasmodium Bacterium Is Harmless to the Foragers of the Stingless Bee Partamona helleri

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Abstract

Paratransgenesis consists of genetically engineering an insect symbiont to control vector-borne diseases. Biosafety assessments are a prerequisite for the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Assessments rely on the measurement of the possible impacts of GMOs on different organisms, including beneficial organisms, such as pollinators. The bacterium Serratia AS1 has been genetically modified to express anti-Plasmodium effector proteins and does not impose a fitness cost on mosquitoes that carry it. In the present study, we assessed the impact of this bacterium on the native bee Partamona helleri (Meliponini), an ecologically important species in Brazil. Serratia eGFP AS1 (recombinant strain) or a wild strain of Serratia marcescens were suspended in a sucrose solution and fed to foragers, followed by measurements of survival, feeding rate, and behavior (walking and flying). These bacteria did not change any of the variables measured at 24, 72, and 144 h after the onset of the experiment. Recombinant and wild bacteria were detected in the homogenates of digestive tract during the 144 h period analyzed, but their numbers decreased with time. The recombinant strain was detected in the midgut at 24 h and in the hindgut at 72 h and 144 h after the onset of the experiment under the fluorescent microscope. As reported for mosquitoes, Serratia eGFP AS1 did not compromise the foragers of P. helleri, an ecologically relevant bee.

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Data Availability

The two bacterial strains used in the experiments are stored in the Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Insetos at UFV, Brazil. The data that support the findings are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Maria Cristina Dantas Vanetti for providing the wild Serratia strain, Prof. Dr. Hilário Cuquetto Mantovani (Departamento de Microbiologia—UFV) and Dr. Tania Maria Fernandes Salomão (Departamento de Biologia Geral—UFV) for assistance with bacteria handling.

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES—001), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq—301725/2019–5) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG, CBB-APQ-00247–14), NIH grant R01AI031478, and the Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Entomologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Thaís Andrade Viana, Wagner Faria Barbosa, Lorena Lisbetd Botina Jojoa & Rodrigo Cupertino Bernardes

  2. Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Wagner Faria Barbosa

  3. Departamento de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Juliana Soares da Silva

  4. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena

  5. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Gustavo Ferreira Martins

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  1. Thaís Andrade Viana
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  2. Wagner Faria Barbosa
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Contributions

TAV, WFB, RCB, MJL, and GFM conceived this research and designed experiments; TAV, LLBJ, and RCB collected the data; TAV, WFB, LLBJ, RCB, JSS, and GFM analyzed the data; TAV and GFM wrote and reviewed the manuscript. TAV, WFB, LLBJ, JSS, MJL, and GFM corrected the work, contributed critically to the drafts, and approved it for publication.

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Correspondence to Gustavo Ferreira Martins.

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Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals

No approval of research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goals of this study because experimental work was conducted with an unregulated invertebrate species.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Viana, T.A., Barbosa, W.F., Jojoa, L.L.B. et al. A Genetically Modified Anti-Plasmodium Bacterium Is Harmless to the Foragers of the Stingless Bee Partamona helleri. Microb Ecol 83, 766–775 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01805-9

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