Life Sciences Commons^™

Transcriptional Response Of Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) To Differential Nutritional Status And Nosema Infection, Farida Azzouz-Olden, Arthur G. Hunt, Gloria Degrandi-Hoffman

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Bees are confronting several environmental challenges, including the intermingled effects of malnutrition and disease. Intuitively, pollen is the healthiest nutritional choice, however, commercial substitutes, such as Bee-Pro and MegaBee, are widely used. Herein we examined how feeding natural and artificial diets shapes transcription in the abdomen of the honey bee, and how transcription shifts in combination with Nosema parasitism.

Results: Gene ontology enrichment revealed that, compared with poor diet (carbohydrates [C]), bees fed pollen (P > C), Bee-Pro (B > C), and MegaBee (M > C) showed a broad upregulation of metabolic processes, especially lipids; however, pollen feeding promoted more functions, and …

Quantifying Plant Soluble Protein And Digestible Carbohydrate Content, Using Corn (Zea Mays) As An Exemplar, Carrie A. Deans, Gregory A. Sword, Paul A. Lenhart, Eric Burkness, William D. Hutchison, Spencer T. Behmer

Entomology Faculty Publications

Elemental data are commonly used to infer plant quality as a resource to herbivores. However, the ubiquity of carbon in biomolecules, the presence of nitrogen-containing plant defensive compounds, and variation in species-specific correlations between nitrogen and plant protein content all limit the accuracy of these inferences. Additionally, research focused on plant and/or herbivore physiology require a level of accuracy that is not achieved using generalized correlations. The methods presented here offer researchers a clear and rapid protocol for directly measuring plant soluble proteins and digestible carbohydrates, the two plant macronutrients most closely tied to animal physiological performance. The protocols combine …