Pesticide detoxification capabilities of virus-infected recovered honey bees

Honey bees often encounter multiple stressors in the environment, namely pesticides and pathogens. However, there is still a knowledge gap in understanding how these stressors interact, especially sequentially. For example, it is unclear how bees respond to a secondary stressor, such as pesticides, after recovering from a pathogen infection. In this study, we explore the potential physiological cost of honey bee workers in clearing virus infections. To do this, we exposed day-old honey bees to Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV) via carefully-controlled injections and the bees are then maintained in the lab for 3 days to ensure surviving bees have cleared IAPV infection. Surviving bees are then exposed to the pesticides thiacloprid for metabolite and gene expression analysis and lambda-cyhalothrin for mortality assay. We chose thiacloprid and lambda-cyhalothrin as our stressors as thiacloprid is readily detoxified by honey bee workers while lambda-cyhalothrin is lethal at low doses. Based on preliminary data, we predict that IAPV-recovered honey bee workers will be more vulnerable to pesticide exposure due to the development trade-off to clear virus infections. This study helps us understand the long term effects of virus infections beyond its acute effects by highlighting their response to secondary stressors.