Proteomics and Immune Response Differences in Apis mellifera and Apis cerana Inoculated with Three Nosema ceranae Isolates

Nosema ceranae infects
midgut epithelial
cells of the Apis species and has jumped
from its original host A. cerana to A. mellifera worldwide, raising questions about the
response of the new host. We compared the responses of these two species
to N. ceranae isolates from A. cerana, A. mellifera from Thailand and A. mellifera from
France. Proteomics and transcriptomics results were combined to better
understand the impact on the immunity of the two species. This is
the first combination of omics analyses to evaluate the impact of N. ceranae spores from different origins and provides
new insights into the differential immune responses in honeybees inoculated
with N. ceranae from original A. cerana. No difference in the antimicrobial peptides
(AMPs) was observed in A. mellifera, whereas these peptides were altered in A. cerana compared to controls. Inoculation of A. mellifera or A. cerana with N. ceranae upregulated AMP genes and cellular-mediated
immune genes but did not significantly alter apoptosis-related gene
expression. A. cerana showed a stronger
immune response than A. mellifera after
inoculation with different N. ceranae isolates. N. ceranae from A. cerana had a strong negative impact on the health
of A. mellifera and A. cerana compared to other Nosema isolates.