Sterol nutritional physiology in bees fed pollen diets

Sunday, November 10, 2024

2:36 PM – 2:48 PM MST

Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 221 C, PCC

Presenting Author(s)

AG

Asmita Gautam

Mississippi State University, Mississippi

Co-Author(s)

Mckaela E. Whilden (she/her/hers)

Graduate research assistant
Mississippi State University
Bryan, Texas
Pierre Lau (he/him/his)

Research Ecologist
USDA-ARS
Stoneville, Mississippi
AS

Arathi Seshadri

Research Entomologist
USDA-ARS
Stoneville, Mississippi
Priyadarshini Chakrabarti Basu

Assistant Professor • Biochem, MolBio, Entmology & Plant Path
Mississippi State University
Starkville, Mississippi

A majority of flowers require pollinators to reproduce. About seventy percent of the flowering plants worldwide, including more than two-thirds of crops, depend on pollinators. Plants in return provide pollen and nectar to the pollinators as the main sources of their required nutrients. Pollen provides important nutrients for example proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids and phytosterols. Phytosterols are a type of lipids that play an important role in hormone production and various other physiological processes in insects including bees. The main objective of this study was to understand the nutritional physiology in two different bee species when fed pollen patties in a laboratory cage setting. The cage study was conducted for two weeks where honey bees and bumble bees were fed pollen patties made from a multifloral pollen source. Diet consumptions and survivals across all experimental groups were measured daily. A targeted lipidomics approach was done to quantify the sterols in the bees in addition to assessing other physiological parameters across the experimental groups.