Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 367; no. 6477; pp. 573 - 576
• Main Authors: Leonard, Sean P, Powell, J Elijah, Perutka, Jiri, Geng, Peng, Heckmann, Luke C, Horak, Richard D, Davies, Bryan W, Ellington, Andrew D, Barrick, Jeffrey E, Moran, Nancy A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 31.01.2020
• Subjects: Animals; Apis mellifera; Bacteria; Bees; Bees - immunology; Bees - microbiology; Deformation effects; Double-stranded RNA; Ectoparasites; Fluorescence; Gastrointestinal Microbiome - genetics; Gene expression; Genes; Genetic Engineering; Genomics; Honey; Immune response; Insects; Interference; Mites; Neisseriaceae - genetics; Neisseriaceae - physiology; Parasitism; Pathogens; Plasmids; Pollinators; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA Interference; RNA-mediated interference; Snodgrassella alvi; Survival; Symbionts; Symbiosis; Varroa destructor; Varroidae - microbiology; Viruses
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.aax9039

Honey bees are essential pollinators threatened by colony losses linked to the spread of parasites and pathogens. Here, we report a new approach for manipulating bee gene expression and protecting bee health. We engineered a symbiotic bee gut bacterium, , to induce eukaryotic RNA interference (RNAi) immune responses. We show that engineered can stably recolonize bees and produce double-stranded RNA to activate RNAi and repress host gene expression, thereby altering bee physiology, behavior, and growth. We used this approach to improve bee survival after a viral challenge, and we show that engineered can kill parasitic mites by triggering the mite RNAi response. This symbiont-mediated RNAi approach is a tool for studying bee functional genomics and potentially for safeguarding bee health.