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. 2023 Feb 2;26(3):106084.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106084. eCollection 2023 Mar 17.

Genetics of tolerance in honeybees to the neonicotinoid clothianidin

Nadejda Tsvetkov  1 , Simran Bahia  1 , Bernarda Calla  2 , May R Berenbaum  2 , Amro Zayed  1
Affiliations

Genetics of tolerance in honeybees to the neonicotinoid clothianidin

Nadejda Tsvetkov et al. iScience. .

Abstract

The effects of neonicotinoid insecticides (NNIs) on honeybee health are intensely debated, with numerous studies showing negative effects of exposure, while others report no such effects. We carried out experiments to study the genetic and molecular basis of NNI tolerance in honeybees, which may underlie the discrepancies observed in the literature. We discovered that worker survival post-exposure to an acute oral dose of clothianidin is heritable (H 2 = 37.8%). Tolerance to clothianidin was not associated with differences in the expression of detoxification enzymes in our experiments. Instead, mutations in the primary neonicotinoid detoxification genes CYP9Q1 and CYP9Q3 were strongly associated with worker survival post-clothianidin exposure. In some instances, the strong association between CYP9Q haplotypes and worker survival was associated with the protein's predicted binding affinity for clothianidin. Our findings have implications regarding future toxicological studies utilizing honeybees as a model pollinator.

Keywords: Environmental toxicology; Molecular biology; Zoology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Patriline affects the survival of worker bees after clothianidin exposure (A) Colony 36 (Chi-squared test, χ2 = 57.842, df = 25, p < 0.001, N = 247) and (B) Colony 37 (Chi-squared test, χ2 = 35.387, df = 20, p = 0.029, N = 249). The numbers within each bar indicate the total number of workers tested for each of the patrilines. The height of the bar represents the mean.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Gene expression differences associated with susceptibility to acute clothianidin exposure Heatmap of differentially expressed genes in the Malpighian tubules between tolerant and susceptible patrilines from Experiment 2. Survival denotes the average percent of workers that survived from Experiment 1.
Figure 3
Figure 3
CYP9Q3 and CYP9Q1 haplotypes predict bee survival A classification tree analysis of the bee survival after acute clothianidin exposure by their CYP9Q1, CYP9Q2, and CYP9Q3 haplotypes. CYP9Q3 haplotypes had the largest effect on survival, while CYP9Q2 had no effect on survival. Letters denote the haplotype of the gene in the box directly above them. The percentage indicates the percent of bees that survived with those haplotypes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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