The diversity of eukaryote organisms and viruses associated with wild bees remains poorly characterized in contrast to the well-documented pathosphere of the western honey bee, Apis mellifera. Using a deliberate RNA shotgun metagenomic sequencing strategy in combination with a dedicated bioinformatics workflow, we identified the (micro-)organisms and viruses associated with two bumble bee hosts...

Although bee pollen was recommended as a supplemental diet for its nutritionally beneficial components, it is warning for its usage during pregnancy. In this study bee pollen (PB) water extract with different doses (2.5 & 5 and 10 g/kg b.w./day) was delivered to pregnant rats orally from day 1 to day 21 of gestation to address the physiological relevance of bee pollen rich in proteins and phyto...

Fatalities among avian species due to multiple bee stings are rare. Sixteen pigeons on a farm in Bangladesh each suffered multiple bee stings. Ten of the pigeons died before treatment, 5 (4-11 stings) died within 12 hr after treatment, and 1 pigeon (only 3 stings) survived. Body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, hematocrit, hemoglobin, erythrocytes, thrombocytes, MCV, MCH and MCHC decr...

We have sequenced an 81-kb genomic region from the honey bee, Apis mellifera, associated with a quantitative trait locus (QTL) sting-2 for aggressive behavior. This sequence represents the first extensive study of the honey-bee genome structure encompassing putative genes in a QTL for a behavioral trait. Expression of 13 putative genes, as well as two transcripts that were present in a honey-be...

Until the late 1980s, specific viral infections of the honey bee were generally considered harmless in all countries. Then, with the worldwide introduction of the ectoparasite mite Varroa destructor, beekeepers encountered increasing difficulties in maintaining their colonies. Epidemiological surveys and laboratory experiments have demonstrated that the newly acquired virulence of several virus...

Bee venom contains a variety of peptides and enzymes, including serine proteases. While the presence of serine proteases in bee venom has been demonstrated, the role of these proteins in bee venom has not been elucidated. Furthermore, there is currently no information available regarding the melanization response or the fibrin(ogen)olytic activity of bee venom serine protease, and the molecular...

Plant-bee visitor communities are complex networks. While studies show that deleting nodes alters network topology, predicting these changes in the field remains difficult. Here, a simple trait-based approach is tested for predicting bee community composition following disturbance. I selected six fields with mixed cover of flower species with shallow (open) and deep (tube) nectar access, and re...

Little information is available regarding the adverse effects of pesticides on natural honey bee populations. This study highlights the detrimental effects of pesticides on honey bee olfaction through behavioural studies, scanning electron microscopic imaging of antennal sensillae and confocal microscopic studies of honey bee brains for calcium ions on Apis cerana, a native Indian honey bee spe...

Graph Coloring, one of the most challenging combinatorial problems, finds applicability in many real-world tasks. In this work we have developed a new artificial bee colony algorithm (called O-BEE-COL) for solving this problem. The special features of the proposed algorithm are (i) a SmartSwap mutation operator, (ii) an optimized GPX operator, and (iii) a temperature mechanism. Various studies ...