Significant transcriptional changes in mature daughter Varroa destructor mites during infestation of different developmental stages of honeybees

Tu, Yangyang; Wu, Jiangli; Elsheikha, Hany M; Getachew, Awraris; Zhou, Chunxue; Zhou, Huaiyu; Xu, Shufa

Abstract

Background: Varroa destructor is considered a major cause of honeybee (Apis mellifera) colony losses worldwide. Although V. destructor mites exhibit preference behavior for certain honeybee lifecycle stages, the mechanism underlying host finding and preference remains largely unknown. Results: By using a de novo transcriptome assembly strategy, we sequenced the mature daughter V. destructor mite transcriptome during infestation of different stages of honeybees (brood cells, newly emerged bees and adult bees). A total of 132 779 unigenes were obtained with an average length of 2745 bp and N50 of 5706 bp. About 63.1% of the transcriptome could be annotated based on sequence homology to the predatory mite Metaseiulus occidentalis proteins. Expression analysis revealed that mature daughter mites had distinct transcriptome profiles after infestation of different honeybee stages, and that the majority of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of mite infesting adult honeybees were down-regulated compared to that infesting the sealed brood cells. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses showed that a large number of DEGs were involved in cellular process and metabolic process, suggesting that Varroa mites undergo metabolic adjustment to accommodate the cellular, molecular and/or immune response of the honeybees. Interestingly, in adult honeybees, some mite DEGs involved in neurotransmitter biosynthesis and transport were identified and their levels of expression were validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Conclusion: These results provide evidence for transcriptional reprogramming in mature daughter Varroa mites during infestation of honeybees, which may be relevant to understanding the mechanism underpinning adaptation and preference behavior of these mites for honeybees. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Citation

Tu, Y., Wu, J., Elsheikha, H. M., Getachew, A., Zhou, C., Zhou, H., & Xu, S. (2020). Significant transcriptional changes in mature daughter Varroa destructor mites during infestation of different developmental stages of honeybees. Pest Management Science, 76(8), 2736-2745. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5821

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 18, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 18, 2020
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Apr 16, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 19, 2021
• Journal: Pest Management Science
• Print ISSN: 1526-498X
• Electronic ISSN: 1526-4998
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 76
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 2736-2745
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5821
• Keywords: Agronomy and Crop Science; Insect Science; General Medicine
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4298723
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ps.5821
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wu, J., Elsheikha, H.M., Tu, Y., Getachew, A., Zhou, H., Zhou, C. and Xu, S. (2020), Significant transcriptional changes in mature daughter Varroa destructor mites during infestation of different developmental stages of honeybees. Pest Manag Sci, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5821. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.