Exposure of chlorothalonil and acetamiprid reduce the survival and cause multiple internal disturbances in Apis mellifera larvae reared in vitro

Ying Lu; Jing Gao; Tong Wu; Bo Han; Bingnan Qian; Min Shi; Sa Yang; Qingyun Diao; Chunya Bu; Pingli Dai

doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1114403

Exposure of chlorothalonil and acetamiprid reduce the survival and cause multiple internal disturbances in Apis mellifera larvae reared in vitro

Front Physiol. 2023 Feb 13:14:1114403. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1114403. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ying Lu^{1

2}, Jing Gao², Tong Wu², Bo Han², Bingnan Qian², Min Shi², Sa Yang², Qingyun Diao², Chunya Bu¹, Pingli Dai²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Northern Urban Agriculture of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Bioscience and Resource Environment, Beijing University of Agriculture, Beijing, China.
² Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology of Agriculture, Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background: Chlorothalonil and acetamiprid are chemical pesticides commonly used in agricultural production and have been shown to have negative effects on bee's fitness. Despite many studies have revealed that honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) larvae are posting a high risk on exposure to pesticides, but the toxicology information of chlorothalonil and acetamiprid on bee larvae remain limited. Results: The no observed adverse effect concentration (NOAEC) of chlorothalonil and acetamiprid for honey bee larvae were 4 μg/mL and 2 μg/mL, respectively. Except for CarE, the enzymic activities of GST and P450 were not influenced by chlorothalonil at NOAEC, while chronic exposure to acetamiprid slightly increased the activities of the three tested enzymes at NOAEC. Further, the exposed larvae showed significantly higher expression of genes involved in a series of different toxicologically relevant process following, including caste development (Tor (GB44905), InR-2 (GB55425), Hr4 (GB47037), Ac3 (GB11637) and ILP-2 (GB10174)), immune system response (abaecin (GB18323), defensin-1 (GB19392), toll-X4 (GB50418)), and oxidative stress response (P450, GSH, GST, CarE). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the exposure to chlorothalonil and acetamiprid, even at concentrations below the NOAEC, showed potentially effects on bee larvae's fitness, and more important synergistic and behavioral effects that can affect larvae fitness should be explored in the further.

Keywords: acetamiprid; chlorothalonil; honey bees; oxidative stress; toxicity.

Grants and funding

This study was financially supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (6212004, 6202032), the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ASTIP-2021-IAR) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670648).