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Two-dimensional proteomic analysis of honeybee, Apis mellifera, winter worker hemolymph

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An Erratum to this article was published on 16 October 2013

Abstract

Honeybee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus) colonies in temperate zones produce either summer bees, which have a lifespan of 15 to 48 days, or winter bees, which emerge in late summer and live up to 8 months. Winter bees develop unique physiological conditions characterized by changes in protein composition that appear to be major determinants of honeybee lifespan. We analyzed winter honeybee worker hemolymph using a proteomic approach for the first time. Hemolymph collected from the dorsal vessel of winter honeybees using a glass capillary tube was analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by MALDI TOF/TOF protein identification. Overall, 93 spots were assigned significance (P < 0.05). Many identified proteins corresponded well with extended lifespan. Vitellogenin subunits (mainly ∼180 and ∼100 kDa) comprised the major portion of the proteins; however, vitellogenin dominance repressed the signals of the lower-abundance proteins. Future physiological studies related to overwintering bees, including health, immunity, longevity, nutrition, and/or colony losses, can benefit from these results.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by a project of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (http://www.msmt.cz), project no. OC10016 (Prevention of Honeybee Colony Losses). The authors thank Veronika Souralova for the photo documentation of hemolymph and Martin Markovic for valuable help. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and editor for their valuable comments and suggestions that have improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pest Control of Stored Products and Food Safety, Laboratory of Proteomics, Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507/73, Prague 6-Ruzyne, CZ16106, Czech Republic

    Tomas Erban

  2. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Petr L. Jedelsky

  3. Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Petr L. Jedelsky

  4. Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Petr L. Jedelsky

  5. Bee Research Institute at Dol, Libcice nad Vltavou, Czech Republic

    Dalibor Titera

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  1. Tomas Erban
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Correspondence to Tomas Erban.

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Manuscript editor: Klaus Hartfelder

Analyse protéomique par électrophorèse bi-dimensionnelle de l’hémolymphe des ouvrières d’hiver de l’abeille Apis mellifera

Apis mellifera / hémolymphe / vitellogénine / protéomique / longévité

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Apis mellifera / Hämolymphe / Winterbiene / Vitellogenin / Proteomik / Lebensdauer

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Erban, T., Jedelsky, P.L. & Titera, D. Two-dimensional proteomic analysis of honeybee, Apis mellifera, winter worker hemolymph. Apidologie 44, 404–418 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-012-0190-5

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