Department of Biology

The honey bee egg – an important life stage

Dr. Esmaeil Amiri

November 18, 2020
4-5pm

Hosted By Dr. Olav Rueppell, Dr. Bryan McLean

Honey bees are social insects that live in colonies, where their survival and fitness are inextricably linked to specialized reproductive individuals (queens) that monopolize the egg laying. The queen is the longest-lived individual of the colony and as such is exposed to different biotic and abiotic stresses. These stresses may cause transgenerational effects and the fitness consequences either positive or negative. The most prominent medium for transgenerational effects is the egg, which provides the offspring with nutrients and other factors essential to start development. It can also be exploited as a vehicle by pathogens including viruses. To explore both processes and relate them to each other, I studied and will  present the prevalence and mechanism of virus transmission through eggs, characterize the transcriptome of honey bee eggs with varying virus infections, and explore influences on honey bee egg size that may be functionally relevant for quantitative transgenerational effects and colony function in the honey bee.