Hemocyte analysis and protein profile of hemolymph from honey bee (Apis cerana F.) infested with the asian mite, Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans.

Date

10-1996

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Biology

Major Course

Major in Cell Biology

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Rita P. Laude

Abstract

Some physiological and biochemical changes in Apis cerana caused by the ectoparasite Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans were studied to elucidate its effects on honey bees. Hemocyte analysis of both total hemocyte counts (THC) and differential hemocyte counts (DHC) of mite free (MF), artificially-infested (Al) and naturally-infested (NI) colonies of A. cerana. Likewise, protein profiles of bee hemolymph from the same colonies were obtained using SDS-PAGE. A total of 27 bees for hemocyte analysis and 148 bees for protein profiling were collected from Bambang. Nagcarlan, Laguna. Adipohemocytes. prohemocytes, plasmatocytes and granulocytes were observed in all the samples. Statistical analysis revealed a significant decline on the total hemocyte counts (THC) of Al and NI hives. However, no significant differences on the differential hemocyte counts of each cell type across treatments were seen. This result may be due to the predominance of prohemocytes in all treatments since it is from this cell that all other hemocytes would stem from (Ratcliffe 1993). This suggests that A. cerana, Varroa's natural host, may have evolved behavioral and physiological adaptations in order to maintain the relative frequency of the different hemocytes, allowing it to survive prolonged periods of infestation. Protein profiles, on the other hand, revealed a total of 84 distincly migrating bands, with the fastest band migrating with a relative mobility of 0.9833 from the origin, and the slowest band having a relative mobility of 0.0037 to 0.0091. MF, AI, and NI populations were found to have total band numbers of 77.78 and 56 respectively, this indicates a 27.77% decreases in the number protein in NI and MF populations were found to be highly similar (89.02%), with both having less similarity to the NI population. Bartlett's test on the quality of variances of the mobilities of each band from the three treatments suggests significant changes in the band pattern of bee hemolymph as a result of infestation. All in all, changes in the band patterns among treatments and reduction in protein bands and hemocytes were considered to be direct results of Varroa-infestation.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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