Molecular and bioinformatics analysis of the relative expression profiles of dorsal, Toll-1, Relish and Duox genes in young versus old diutinus workers of Apis mellifera

作者：Ratiu Attila Cristian; Neagu Alina; Mihalache Mihaela Raluca; Lazar Veronica; Ecovoiu Alexandru Al^*

来源：Romanian Biotechnological Letters, 2016, 21(3): 11513-11526.

• A. mellifera
• diutinus stage
• immune genes
• transcription factors
• D. melanogaster

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is of major importance for the world's agriculture, therefore it is of capital importance to understand the mechanisms underlying its immune response. Diutinus or winter honeybees are long-lived workers that exhibit particular immunological features. Since the old diutinus workers become the starting nurses and foragers when the hive resumes the activity, it is important to know how key genes of the immune system vary their relative expression during winter. According to the qRT-PCR data, the relative expression of the master regulator dorsal and Toll-1 genes from the Toll signaling pathway, and Relish, a core gene of the Imd immune pathway, is significantly different for the compared young and old winter bees. These differences could be determined by the specific challenges raised by prolonged crowding and non-activity, as well as by other types of stressors. A bioinformatics analysis performed on the promoter regions of dorsal, Toll-1, Relish and Duox genes from A. mellifera and D. melanogaster, employed herein as a reference organism, revealed that HSF and BR-C transcription factors could be major contributors to the fine-tuning of all the four genes.

• 出版日期2016-6