| Title: | Antiparasitic effects of three floral volatiles on trypanosomatid infection in honey bees |
| Author(s): | Palmer-Young EC; Markowitz LM; Grubbs K; Zhang Y; Corona M; Schwarz R; Chen Y; Evans JD; |
| Address: | "USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USA. Electronic address: ecp52@cornell.edu. USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USA; Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USA. USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USA; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, PR China. Department of Biology, Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO, USA" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jip.2022.107830 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1096-0805 (Electronic) 0022-2011 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Trypanosomatid gut parasites are common in pollinators and costly for social bees. The recently described honey bee trypanosomatid Lotmaria passim is widespread, abundant, and correlated with colony losses in some studies. The potential for amelioration of infection by antimicrobial plant compounds has been thoroughly studied for closely related trypanosomatids of humans and is an area of active research in bumble bees, but remains relatively unexplored in honey bees. We recently identified several floral volatiles that inhibited growth of L. passim in vitro. Here, we tested the dose-dependent effects of four such compounds on infection, mortality, and food consumption in parasite-inoculated honey bees. We found that diets containing the monoterpenoid carvacrol and the phenylpropanoids cinnamaldehyde and eugenol at > 10-fold the inhibitory concentrations for cell cultures reduced infection, with parasite numbers decreased by > 90 % for carvacrol and cinnamaldehyde and > 99 % for eugenol; effects of the carvacrol isomer thymol were non-significant. However, both carvacrol and eugenol also reduced bee survival, whereas parasite inoculation did not, indicating costs of phytochemical exposure that could exceed those of infection itself. To our knowledge, this is the first controlled screening of phytochemicals for effects on honey bee trypanosomatid infection, identifying potential treatments for managed bees afflicted with a newly characterized, cosmopolitan intestinal parasite" |
| Keywords: | Acrolein/analogs & derivatives Animals *Anti-Infective Agents Antiparasitic Agents Bees Crithidia/parasitology Cymenes Eugenol/pharmacology Humans *Parasites Phytochemicals Thymol/pharmacology Apis mellifera Colony collapse disorder Crithidia mellificae L; |
| Notes: | "MedlinePalmer-Young, Evan C Markowitz, Lindsey M Grubbs, Kyle Zhang, Yi Corona, Miguel Schwarz, Ryan Chen, Yanping Evans, Jay D eng Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2022/09/30 J Invertebr Pathol. 2022 Oct; 194:107830. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2022.107830. Epub 2022 Sep 26" |
