Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in Bumblebees

Parasites alter the physiology and behaviour of their hosts. In domestic honey bees, the microsporidia <i>Nosema ceranae</i> induces energetic stress that impairs the behaviour of foragers, potentially leading to colony collapse. Whether this parasite similarly affects wild pollinators i...

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Main Authors: Tamara Gómez-Moracho, Tristan Durand, Cristian Pasquaretta, Philipp Heeb, Mathieu Lihoreau
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
Series:Microorganisms
Subjects:
PCR
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/1/158
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spelling doaj-54f0873b8ad145e297f6079941f0a5172021-01-13T00:03:22ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072021-01-01915815810.3390/microorganisms9010158Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in BumblebeesTamara Gómez-Moracho0Tristan Durand1Cristian Pasquaretta2Philipp Heeb3Mathieu Lihoreau4Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI), CNRS, University Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse, FranceResearch Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI), CNRS, University Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse, FranceResearch Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI), CNRS, University Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse, FranceLaboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paul Sabatier, ENSFEA, 31062 Toulouse, FranceResearch Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI), CNRS, University Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse, FranceParasites alter the physiology and behaviour of their hosts. In domestic honey bees, the microsporidia <i>Nosema ceranae</i> induces energetic stress that impairs the behaviour of foragers, potentially leading to colony collapse. Whether this parasite similarly affects wild pollinators is little understood because of the low success rates of experimental infection protocols. Here, we present a new approach for infecting bumblebees (<i>Bombus terrestris</i>) with controlled amounts of <i>N. ceranae</i> by briefly exposing individual bumblebees to parasite spores before feeding them with artificial diets. We validated our protocol by testing the effect of two spore dosages and two diets varying in their protein to carbohydrate ratio on the prevalence of the parasite (proportion of PCR-positive bumblebees), the intensity of parasites (spore count in the gut and the faeces), and the survival of bumblebees. Overall, insects fed a low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet showed the highest parasite prevalence (up to 70%) but lived the longest, suggesting that immunity and survival are maximised at different protein to carbohydrate ratios. Spore dosage did not affect parasite infection rate and host survival. The identification of experimental conditions for successfully infecting bumblebees with <i>N. ceranae</i> in the lab will facilitate future investigations of the sub-lethal effects of this parasite on the behaviour and cognition of wild pollinators.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/1/158<i>Bombus terrestris</i><i>Nosema ceranae</i>nutritionexperimental infectionsurvival analysesPCR
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Tamara Gómez-Moracho
Tristan Durand
Cristian Pasquaretta
Philipp Heeb
Mathieu Lihoreau
spellingShingle Tamara Gómez-Moracho
Tristan Durand
Cristian Pasquaretta
Philipp Heeb
Mathieu Lihoreau
Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in Bumblebees
Microorganisms
<i>Bombus terrestris</i>
<i>Nosema ceranae</i>
nutrition
experimental infection
survival analyses
PCR
author_facet Tamara Gómez-Moracho
Tristan Durand
Cristian Pasquaretta
Philipp Heeb
Mathieu Lihoreau
author_sort Tamara Gómez-Moracho
title Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in Bumblebees
title_short Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in Bumblebees
title_full Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in Bumblebees
title_fullStr Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in Bumblebees
title_full_unstemmed Artificial Diets Modulate Infection Rates by <i>Nosema ceranae</i> in Bumblebees
title_sort artificial diets modulate infection rates by <i>nosema ceranae</i> in bumblebees
publisher MDPI AG
series Microorganisms
issn 2076-2607
publishDate 2021-01-01
description Parasites alter the physiology and behaviour of their hosts. In domestic honey bees, the microsporidia <i>Nosema ceranae</i> induces energetic stress that impairs the behaviour of foragers, potentially leading to colony collapse. Whether this parasite similarly affects wild pollinators is little understood because of the low success rates of experimental infection protocols. Here, we present a new approach for infecting bumblebees (<i>Bombus terrestris</i>) with controlled amounts of <i>N. ceranae</i> by briefly exposing individual bumblebees to parasite spores before feeding them with artificial diets. We validated our protocol by testing the effect of two spore dosages and two diets varying in their protein to carbohydrate ratio on the prevalence of the parasite (proportion of PCR-positive bumblebees), the intensity of parasites (spore count in the gut and the faeces), and the survival of bumblebees. Overall, insects fed a low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet showed the highest parasite prevalence (up to 70%) but lived the longest, suggesting that immunity and survival are maximised at different protein to carbohydrate ratios. Spore dosage did not affect parasite infection rate and host survival. The identification of experimental conditions for successfully infecting bumblebees with <i>N. ceranae</i> in the lab will facilitate future investigations of the sub-lethal effects of this parasite on the behaviour and cognition of wild pollinators.
topic <i>Bombus terrestris</i>
<i>Nosema ceranae</i>
nutrition
experimental infection
survival analyses
PCR
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/1/158
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