Heat shock proteins in Varroa destructor exposed to heat stress and in-hive acaricides.

Varroa destructor is one of the major pests that affect honeybees around the world. Chemical treatments are common to control varroosis, but mites possess biochemical adaptive mechanisms to resist these treatments, enabling them to survive. So far, no information is available regarding whether these pesticides can induce the expression of heat shock protein (Hsp) as a common protective mechanism against tissue damage. The aims of this study were to determine differences in heat shock tolerance between mites collected from brood combs and phoretic ones, and to examine patterns of protein expression of Hsp70 that occur in various populations of V. destructor after exposure to acaricides commonly employed in beekeeping, such as flumethrin, tau-fluvalinate and coumaphos. Curiously, mites obtained from brood cells were alive at 40 °C, unlike phoretic mites that reached 100% mortality, demonstrating differential thermo-tolerance. Heat treatment induced Hsp70 in mites 4 × more than in control mites and no differences in response were observed in phoretic versus cell-brood-obtained mites. Dose-response assays were carried out at increasing acaricide concentrations. Each population showed a different stress response to acaricides despite belonging to the same geographic region. In one of them, coumaphos acted as a hormetic stressor. Pyrethroids also induced Hsp70, but mite population seemed sensitive to this treatment. We concluded that Hsp70 could represent a robust biomarker for measuring exposure of V. destructor to thermal and chemical stress, depending on the acaricide class and interpopulation variability. This is relevant because it is the first time that stress response is analyzed in this biological model, providing new insight in host-parasite-xenobiotic interaction.

Protein kinase and phosphatase activities are involved in fructan synthesis initiation mediated by sugars.

The induction of fructosylsucrose-synthesizing activity (FSS) by sugars was tested using detached primary leaf blades of several wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, immersed in different sugars solutions for 24 h in the dark. The highest induction was brought about by sucrose, while glucose, fructose and maltose also caused significant induction. 5-Ketofructose, 3-methylglucose and 6-deoxyglucose, which cannot be metabolized by plants, produced no induction at all. The fact that mannose also failed to induce FSS and that mannoheptulose did not inhibit the induction by sucrose suggests that the hexokinase-sensing system may not be involved. The protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid and the calmodulin-dependent protein kinase antagonist W7 inhibited FSS induction while some types of protein kinase inhibitors, such as staurosporine and genistein, had less or no effect, respectively. Cycloheximide and cordycepin completely inhibited the induction response, indicating that transcription and translation are necessary for the FSS induction. Northern blot experiments using a sucrose:fructan-6-fructosyl transferase probe gave a clear indication that the mRNA for this enzyme, which is almost absent in control leaves, is dramatically increased after a 24-h treatment with 500 mM sucrose, and confirmed the inhibition produced by protein kinase and protein phosphatase inhibitors. Our data indicate that protein kinase and protein phosphatase activities take part in the chain of events that intervenes in the induction of fructan synthesis by sugars.