Dynamics of heat shock proteins and heat shock factor expression during heat stress in daughter workers in pre-heat-treated (rapid heat hardening) Apis mellifera mother queens.

Honeybees have a limited capacity to control their body temperature when exposed to thermal changes in the atmosphere. Environmental changes, such as thermal climate change, have an adverse effect on honeybee survival. Insects can be pre-heat-treated (rapid heat hardening) with a mild heat stressor to induce Hsp gene expression and protect them from future stresses. Sixty accepted mother queen (MQ) larvae at the age of 7 days were selected and divided into two incubation treatment groups (n = 30). The control group (non-heat-treated mother queens, nH-T MQ) was maintained at 34.5 °C for 15 min and 70% relative humidity (RH), and the pre-heat-treated (pre-heat-treated mother queens, pH-T MQ) group was subjected to 41 °C for 15 min and 70% RH. To evaluate the effect of larval pre-heat-treatment on thermotolerance acquisition of daughter workers, about 500 workers were collected from brood combs of each treatment group. The worker bees in their cages were incubated in digital-controlled thermo-incubators for 1 h under each of the following temperatures: 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 °C. The expression of Hsp40, Hsp60, Hsp70, HSC70-3, HSC70-4, HSC70-5, Hsp83, and Hsp90 genes in both head and thorax were evaluated by relative quantitative real-time qPCR (RT-qPCR). In general, the pH-T MQ workers exhibited a higher ability to tolerate temperature than nH-T MQ workers under extreme conditions. Furthermore, we reported for the first time that pre-heat treatment of the mother queen's larvae alters the basal and dynamic expression of heat shock proteins (Hsp40, Hsp60, Hsp70, and Hsp90) and heat shock factor (HSF) during thermoneutral conditions and during heat stress of daughter workers, probably indicating a substantial improvement of honeybees' thermotolerance acquisition in arid and semi-arid regions, and improvement of honeybee longevity and management strategies.

Effect of Maternal Water Restriction on Sexual Behavior, Reproductive Performance, and Reproductive Hormones of Male Rat Offspring.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of maternal water restriction on sexual behavior, reproductive performance, and reproductive hormones of male rat offspring. Forty pregnant female rats were divided into two equal groups: Control (C) and water-restricted (WR). Control dams had ad libitum water access throughout pregnancy, while dams in the WR group were subjected to 50% water-restriction from day 10 of pregnancy onwards. The maternal water restriction provoked a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in body weight of dams before delivery and at birth and litter body weights of offspring at birth. Maternal water restriction did not affect relative weights of reproductive and body organs of male rat offspring. All hormonal concentrations, sperm count, and vitality in male rat offspring were not significantly affected by maternal water restriction. Maternal water restriction exposure induced significant (p < 0.05) reduction in intromission latency, intromission frequency, and post-ejaculation interval in male rat offspring while a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the ejaculation latency was detected in maternal WR group. In conclusion, this study suggests that maternal water restriction had a negative impact on some reproductive characteristics but did not severely affect reproductive performance and reproductive hormones of male rat offspring.

Preliminary study of the influence of mineral content on quality parameters of Jordanian-origin honey collected from different geographical regions.

In this work, physicochemical properties of eight honey samples harvested from different regions over Jordan were investigated. Quality parameters including free acidity, pH, conductivity, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMT) and diastase activity were monitored for freshly harvested samples and during storage time over 24-month. The level of minerals (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Ni, Cu, Hg, Pb and As) in samples were quantified and found to be highly variable. The combined mineral content in the collected honeys was following the trend: multi-floral-Madaba (275.17 mg/kg) < multi-floral-Southern Shouna (600.83 mg/kg) < Centaurea iberica-Irbid (654.42 mg/kg) < Ziziphus Spina Christi-Al-Ghour (747.14 mg/kg) < Urginea maritima-Petra (752.52 mg/kg) < Echinopspolyceras-Karak (830.41 mg/kg) < Eucalyptus-Al-Azraq (1117.1 mg/kg) < multi-floral-Jerash (2297.57 mg/kg). As indicated from the trend, the mineral content in multi-floral-Jerash was notably high even when compared with international values. Harmful elements such as Cu, Hg, Pb and As were not detected providing higher nutritional value for the local honey. For fresh honeys, analysis revealed that samples rich with minerals have lower moisture, higher acidity, lower pH, and lower diastase activity. After 24-month storage, samples of higher minerals manifested higher values of 5-HMF and this supported that minerals would speed up glucose conversion.