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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Bee Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412987
Research Project: Managing Honey Bees Against Disease and Colony Stress

Location: Bee Research Laboratory

Title: The effects of Queen Mandibular Pheromone on Nosema (Vairimorpha)ceranae infections in caged honey bees

Author
item HUANG, WEI-FONE - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item Safo-Mensa, Ama
item PALMER-YOUNG, EVAN - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item Evans, Jay
item Chen, Yanping

Submitted to: Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/11/2024
Publication Date: 7/20/2024
Citation: Huang, W., Safo-Mensa, A., Palmer-Young, E., Evans, J.D., Chen, Y. 2024. The effects of Queen Mandibular Pheromone on Nosema (Vairimorpha)ceranae infections in caged honey bees. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 206. Article e108167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2024.108167.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2024.108167

Interpretive Summary: Honey bees use a special scent from their queen, known as queen mandibular pheromone (QMP), to organize their society and grow their colony. In our cage experiments, we use QMP strip to recreate natural conditions. We found that QMP could help reduce early infection of a specific disease caused by a parasite called Nosema, by significantly lowering the disease rate and slowing parasite's progress,. The report supports findings that changing the queen bee can reduce nosema disease. This research provides valuable insights for managing Nosema disease in honey bees and should be of interest to researchers, graduate students, beekeepers, and policymakers worldwide.

Technical Abstract: Honey bees utilize queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) for maintaining social hierarchy and colony development. In controlled cage studies, synthetic QMP is often introduced to mimic natural conditions. However, questions have arisen about the effects of QMP on nosema disease studies. This short report identifies significant early-stage suppression effects of QMP on Vairimorpha ceranae infections. QMP was found to significantly lower infection rates below the infectious dose for 100% infectivity (ID100) and slow disease development in a dose-independent manner. These effects diminished at doses exceeding ID100 after a sufficient incubation time. We recommend that studies investigating treatment effects using caged bees avoid QMP to ensure unambiguous results. This study design could be applicable for evaluating other treatments that may have subtle effects. Furthermore, our findings support previous field studies suggesting that queen replacement reduces nosema disease at levels similar to treatment with fumagillin.