Immune pathways and defence mechanisms in honey bees <i>Apis mellifera</i>

TLDR

Social insects can mount both group‑level and individual defenses against pathogens. The study focuses on individual defenses by conducting a genome‑wide analysis of immunity in honey bee *Apis mellifera*. The authors model four honey bee immunity signalling pathways, identifying orthologues for nearly all predicted members. Honey bees have about one‑third as many immunity‑related genes in 17 families compared to *Drosophila* and *Anopheles*, suggesting reduced immune flexibility due to strong social barriers or specialization against a limited set of coevolved pathogens.

Abstract

Abstract Social insects are able to mount both group‐level and individual defences against pathogens. Here we focus on individual defences, by presenting a genome‐wide analysis of immunity in a social insect, the honey bee Apis mellifera . We present honey bee models for each of four signalling pathways associated with immunity, identifying plausible orthologues for nearly all predicted pathway members. When compared to the sequenced Drosophila and Anopheles genomes, honey bees possess roughly one‐third as many genes in 17 gene families implicated in insect immunity. We suggest that an implied reduction in immune flexibility in bees reflects either the strength of social barriers to disease, or a tendency for bees to be attacked by a limited set of highly coevolved pathogens.