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We have described a case, with renal biopsy findings and serologic studies, of a patient who had the nephrotic syndrome after sustaining multiple bee stings and who demonstrated a favorable response to steroid therapy. Bee stings have previously been implicated in the development of this syndrome, though the reported cases in the literature are poorly documented.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Clinicians and researchers in allergy and immunology are often unaware of aspects of stinging insect biology that would be of practical interest to their patients. This review discusses entomological literature pertaining to avoidance of bee and wasp stings, with emphasis on risk factors associated with provoking individual foragers versus disturbing colonies and preventive measures for both circumstances. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent work pertaining to sting avoidance has mostly been concerned with the development and testing of attractants, insecticides and delivery systems for toxic baiting programs to control vespine wasps. SUMMARY: Sting risks and avoidance measures associated with bee and wasp foragers are different from those posed by disturbing colonies. Despite widespread advice to the contrary, no evidence currently exists that wearing perfume or bright, floral-colored clothing elevates sting risk. Foragers usually have to be firmly touched before they will sting; therefore, personal protection largely involves guarding against accidental direct contact. Although still under development, the most effective means for reducing local populations of foraging vespine wasps are toxic baiting programs. Preventing stings from colonies is more problematic and depends mostly on personal awareness when disturbing vegetation. The most effective measure in mitigating the severity of a mass attack is probably the wearing of white or light-colored clothing.
PURPOSE: To report the acute management and clinical findings of a case of corneal bee sting and to report the outcome of corneal endothelial cell analysis 1 year after trauma. METHODS: Clinical findings, anterior segment photographs, corneal endothelial images, and medical treatment of a case of right corneal bee sting are presented. Right and left central corneal endothelial cell analysis was performed by noncontact specular microscopy. RESULTS: The stinger was removed from the cornea. Systemic, subconjunctival, and topical steroids and systemic and topical antibiotics were given. One year later, a corneal scar and anterior capsular opacity of the lens in the right eye were shown by slit-lamp examination. Endothelial cell analysis determined that the endothelial cell density of the right eye was substantially decreased compared with the left eye. CONCLUSION: Corneal infiltration gradually decreased, presumably because of the systemic, topical, and subconjunctival steroids. Late complications observed in this case included a substantial decrease in cornea endothelial cell density, a corneal scar, and anterior capsular opacity.
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is characterized by the pentad of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, neurologic symptoms, renal insufficiency, and fever. Although many underlying diseases and conditions are associated with TTP, there has been only one previously documented case of bee-sting-associated TTP. In this article, we describe the case of a woman who developed life-threatening TTP temporally related to a honeybee sting and who required prolonged plasma exchange before her condition improved. We also briefly review evolving concepts in the pathogenesis of TTP and speculate on the etiopathogenicity of TTP and bee envenomation.
Energy flux during nectar feeding is maximized at an intermediate sugar concentration, the value of which depends on the morphology of the feeding apparatus and the modality of fluid feeding. Biomechanical models predict that a shift from capillary-based lapping to suction feeding will lead to a decrease in this optimal sugar concentration. Here, I demonstrate that the four major genera of orchid bees (Apidae: Euglossini) are suction feeders and provide experimental evidence that the feeding optimum for one species, Euglossa imperialis, falls below the optimum for bee taxa that lap.
The struggle among social classes or castes is well known in humans. Here, we show that caste inequality similarly affects societies of ants, bees and wasps, where castes are morphologically distinct and workers have greatly reduced reproductive potential compared with queens. In social insects, an individual normally has no control over its own fate, whether queen or worker, as this is socially determined during rearing. Here, for the first time, we quantify a strategy for overcoming social control. In the stingless bee Schwarziana quadripunctata, some individuals reared in worker cells avoid a worker fate by developing into fully functional dwarf queens.
The South African isolate of Black queen-cell virus (BQCV), a honey bee virus, was previously found to have an 8550 nucleotide genome excluding the poly(A) tail. Its genome contained two ORFs, a 5'-proximal ORF encoding a putative replicase protein and a 3'-proximal ORF encoding a capsid polyprotein. Long reverse transcription (RT)-PCR was used to produce infectious transcripts for BQCV and to manipulate its genome. Primers were designed for the amplification of the complete genome, the in vitro transcription of infectious RNA and PCR-directed mutagenesis. An 18-mer antisense primer was designed for RT to produce full-length single-stranded cDNA (ss cDNA). Unpurified ss cDNA from the RT reaction mixture was used directly as a template to amplify the full genome by long high-fidelity PCR. The SP6 promoter sequence was introduced into the sense primer to transcribe RNA directly from the amplicon. RNA was transcribed in vitro with and without the presence of a cap analogue and injected directly into bee pupae, which were then incubated for 8 days. In vitro transcripts were infectious but the presence of a cap analogue did not increase the amount of virus recovered. A single base mutation abolishing an EcoRI restriction site was introduced by fusion-PCR, to distinguish viral particles recovered from infectious transcripts from wild-type virus (wtBQCV). Mutant virus (mutBQCV) and wtBQCV were indistinguishable by electron microscopy and Western blot analysis. The EcoRI restriction site was present in wtBQCV and not in mutBQCV.
Thirty-two strains of the novel species Starmerella meliponinorum sp. nov. were isolated from various substrates associated with three stingless bee species (tribe Meliponini) in Brazil and one in Costa Rica. The strains were found in garbage pellets (faecal material, discarded pollen or food, etc.), pollen provisions, adult bees, honey and propolis of Tetragonisca angustula, in honey from Melipona quadritasciata and in adults of Melipona rufiventris and Trigona fulviventris. The sequence of the D1/D2 domains of the large-subunit rDNA showed that the novel species belongs to the Starmerella clade and is most closely related to Candida etchellsii, although the two differ in their sequences by 7% base substitutions. S. meliponinorum is homothallic and assimilates few carbon sources. Nitrate is utilized as a sole nitrogen source. The type strain of S. meliponinorum is strain UFMG-01-J26.1T (=CBS 9117T).
The pupal cocoon of the domesticated silk moth Bombyx mori is the best known and most extensively studied insect silk. It is not widely known that Apis mellifera larvae also produce silk. We have used a combination of genomic and proteomic techniques to identify four honey bee fiber genes (AmelFibroin1-4) and two silk-associated genes (AmelSA1 and 2). The four fiber genes are small, comprise a single exon each, and are clustered on a short genomic region where the open reading frames are GC-rich amid low GC intergenic regions. The genes encode similar proteins that are highly helical and predicted to form unusually tight coiled coils. Despite the similarity in size, structure, and composition of the encoded proteins, the genes have low primary sequence identity. We propose that the four fiber genes have arisen from gene duplication events but have subsequently diverged significantly. The silk-associated genes encode proteins likely to act as a glue (AmelSA1) and involved in silk processing (AmelSA2). Although the silks of honey bees and silkmoths both originate in larval labial glands, the silk proteins are completely different in their primary, secondary, and tertiary structures as well as the genomic arrangement of the genes encoding them. This implies independent evolutionary origins for these functionally related proteins.
The draft assembly of the honey bee Apis mellifera genome sequence reveals that the 17 centromeric-distal telomeres are of a simple, shared, and canonical structure, with 3-4 kb of a unique subtelomeric sequence, followed by several kilobases of TTAGG or variant telomeric repeats. This simple subtelomeric structure differs from the centromeric-proximal telomeres on the short arms of the 15 acrocentric chromosomes, which are apparently composed primarily of the 176-bp AluI tandem repeat. This dichotomy between the distal and proximal telomeres may involve differential participation of the telomeres of the 15 acrocentric chromosomes in the Rabl configuration after mitosis and the chromosome bouquet in meiotic prophase I. As expected from the presence of canonical TTAGG telomeric repeats, we identified a candidate telomerase gene in the bee, as well as the silkmoth Bombyx mori and the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum.
The first draft of the honey bee genome sequence and improved genetic maps are utilized to analyze a genome displaying 10 times higher levels of recombination (19 cM/Mb) than previously analyzed genomes of higher eukaryotes. The exceptionally high recombination rate is distributed genome-wide, but varies by two orders of magnitude. Analysis of chromosome, sequence, and gene parameters with respect to recombination showed that local recombination rate is associated with distance to the telomere, GC content, and the number of simple repeats as described for low-recombining genomes. Recombination rate does not decrease with chromosome size. On average 5.7 recombination events per chromosome pair per meiosis are found in the honey bee genome. This contrasts with a wide range of taxa that have a uniform recombination frequency of about 1.6 per chromosome pair. The excess of recombination activity does not support a mechanistic role of recombination in stabilizing pairs of homologous chromosome during chromosome pairing. Recombination rate is associated with gene size, suggesting that introns are larger in regions of low recombination and may improve the efficacy of selection in these regions. Very few transposons and no retrotransposons are present in the high-recombining genome. We propose evolutionary explanations for the exceptionally high genome-wide recombination rate.
The evolution of sociality in insects holds a central place in evolutionary theory. By examining the phylogenetic patterns of solitary and social behavior and how they correlate with ecological variables, we may identify factors important in the evolution of sociality. In this study, we investigated historical and biogeographical patterns of sociality in a socially polymorphic bee species (one that demonstrates both social and solitary nesting behavior). This unique system allows for a more powerful examination of evolutionary transitions in sociality than interspecific studies of obligately social and solitary species. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis among populations of the halictine bee Halictus rubicundus and then identified relationships among mitochondrial DNA sequence data, sociality, environmental conditions at the nesting site, and geographic location of populations of this species. Within North America, populations of H. rubicundus expressing social and solitary behavior belong to different genetic lineages. Sociality is also correlated with at least one environmental variable used in this study. Taken together, the results support the predictions for genetic control of sociality, but they are still consistent with social behavior at some level being determined by the environmental conditions at the nesting site.
The clinical features and histopathologic findings of a 54-year-old Korean male who had retained the sting apparatus of a bee for four months are described. The clinical features showed ulcerative, erythematous plaques with irregular borders which resembled cutaneous neoplasms such as squamous cell carcinoma. Histopathologic findings included epidermal necrosis and marked pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia. In the dermis, the stick-shaped sting apparatus of the bee was demonstrated and intense lymphohistiocytic and eosinophilic infiltrations were noted.
BACKGROUND: The mechanism of immunotherapy is unclear. Allergic disease is known to involve enhanced TH-2 cytokine responses to allergen. OBJECTIVE: In order to investigate the mechanisms of immunotherapy, we have examined changes in cytokine secretion before (13 patients) and during (nine patients) both rush and conventional venom immunotherapy (VIT) in bee venom allergic patients. METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated in vitro with bee venom, non-specific antigen or mitogen and secretion of IL-4 (TH-2) and IFN gamma (TH-1) over the culture period measured. RESULTS: Untreated patients had TH-2 responses to venom and TH-1 responses to antigen and strong proliferative responses to venom. Controls showed no response (proliferation or cytokines) to venom and the normal TH-1 response to antigen. VIT resulted in marked changes in cytokine secretion to venom, with reduction of the abnormal TH-2 response and induction of a TH-1 response. The pattern differed in rush and conventional VIT. One day after rush VIT there was a significant fall in IL-4 secretion (P < 0.01), which rose by 3 weeks then declined. In conventional VIT there was a gradual reduction of IL-4 production significant after 2 months and undetectable by 6 months. IFN gamma secretion was induced by VIT. Proliferative responses mirrored the IL-4 changes. One day after rush VIT there was a loss of T cells, monocytes and NK cells from peripheral blood. CONCLUSION: This study shows that immunotherapy shifted cytokine responses to allergen from a TH-2 to a TH-1 dominant pattern, suggesting direct effects on T cells. How these cytokine changes relate to clinical desensitization is not clear. In the longer term they would result in an isotype switch from IgE to IgG. Early changes in cytokine or chemokine production might downregulate mast cell or basophil reactivity and explain the rapid desensitization in rush VIT.
We have identified 44 serine protease (SP) and 13 serine protease homolog (SPH) genes in the genome of Apis mellifera. Most of these genes encode putative secreted proteins, but four SPs and three SPHs may associate with the plasma membrane via a transmembrane region. Clip domains represent the most abundant non-catalytic structural units in these SP-like proteins -12 SPs and six SPHs contain at least one clip domain. Some of the family members contain other modules for protein-protein interactions, including disulphide-stabilized structures (LDL(r)A, SRCR, frizzled, kringle, Sushi, Wonton and Pan/apple), carbohydrate-recognition domains (C-type lectin and chitin-binding), and other modules (such as zinc finger, CUB, coiled coil and Sina). Comparison of the sequences with those from Drosophila led to a proposed SP pathway for establishing the dorsoventral axis of honey bee embryos. Multiple sequence alignments revealed evolutionary relationships of honey bee SPs and SPHs with those in Drosophila melanogaster, Anopheles gambiae, and Manduca sexta. We identified homologs of D. melanogaster persephone, M. sexta HP14, PAP-1 and SPH-1. A. mellifera genome includes at least five genes for potential SP inhibitors (serpin-1 through -5) and three genes of SP putative substrates (prophenoloxidase, spätzle-1 and spätzle-2). Quantitative RT-PCR analyses showed an elevation in the mRNA levels of SP2, SP3, SP9, SP10, SPH41, SPH42, SP49, serpin-2, serpin-4, serpin-5, and spätzle-2 in adults after a microbial challenge. The SP41 and SP6 transcripts significantly increased after an injection of Paenibacillus larva, but there was no such increase after injection of saline or Escherichia coli. mRNA levels of most SPs and serpins significantly increased by 48 h after the pathogen infection in 1st instar larvae. On the contrary, SP1, SP3, SP19 and serpin-5 transcript levels reduced. These results, taken together, provide a framework for designing experimental studies of the roles of SPs and related proteins in embryonic development and immune responses of A. mellifera.
Genome sequences offer a broad view of host-pathogen interactions at the systems biology level. With the completion of the sequence of the honey bee, interest in the relevant pathogens is heightened. Here we report the genome sequences of two of the major pathogens of honey bees, the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae (causative agent for American foulbrood disease) and the fungus Ascosphaera apis. (causative agent for chalkbrood disease). Ongoing efforts to characterize the genomes of these species can be used to understand and mitigate the effects of two important pathogens, and will provide a contrast with pathogenic, benign and freeliving relatives.
In stingless bees, sex is determined by a single complementary sex-determining locus. This method of sex determination imposes a severe cost of inbreeding because an egg fertilized by sperm carrying the same sex allele as the egg results in a sterile diploid male. To explore how reproductive strategies may be used to avoid inbreeding in stingless bees, we studied the genetic structure of a population of 27 colonies and three drone congregations of Trigona collina in Chanthaburi, Thailand. The colonies were distributed across six nest aggregations, each aggregation located in the base of a different fig tree. Genetic analysis at eight microsatellite loci showed that colonies within aggregations were not related. Samples taken from three drone congregations showed that the males were drawn from a large number of colonies (estimated to be 132 different colonies in our largest swarm). No drone had a genotype indicating that it could have originated from the colony that it was directly outside. Combined, these results suggest that movements of drones and possibly movements of reproductive swarms among colony aggregations provide two mechanisms of inbreeding avoidance.
We investigated the taxonomic significance of nest shape and its putative role in speciation in Trigona (Heterotrigona) carbonaria and T. (H.) hockingsi, two sibling species of stingless bee species from eastern Australia. These species are primarily distinguished by their nest architecture, as in all other respects they are nearly identical. We genotyped 130 colonies from six locations in Queensland at 13 microsatellite loci together with 106 additional colonies from six other Indo-Pacific Trigona species. Whether they were present in allopatry or in sympatry, colonies that displayed the T. carbonaria or the T. hockingsi nest architecture could be unambiguously differentiated at the genetic level. However, T. hockingsi colonies were classifiable into two highly differentiated paraphyletic and geographically separate populations, one in northern and one in southern Queensland. These two populations probably belong to two distinct species, T. hockingsi and T. davenporti nov. sp. Our results suggest that nest architecture characters are relevant but not sufficient criteria to identify species in this group. Consequently, modifications of nest architecture are probably not of prime importance in the speciation process of Australian stingless bees, although nest architecture differences probably result from relatively simple mechanisms. The rare interspecific hybrid colonies detected did not display a nest with an intermediate form between T. hockingsi and T. carbonaria.