PROTEOMIC ANALYSIS OF APIS MELLIFERA LARVAL IMMUNE RESPONSE AGAINST PAENIBACILLUS LARVAE

ii The honey bee Apis mellifera is an extremely beneficial insect due to its role in pollination and honey production. Honey bees are vulnerable to many diseases, one of which is caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. Ingestion of its spores by honey bees early in their larval stage results in death before adulthood. This disease is known as American foulbrood. Interestingly, this deadly consequence does not occur when older larvae or adults consume the spores, a phenomenon which we hypothesize to be the result of an underdeveloped immune system in young larvae. To address this issue, we mainly employed mass spectrometry-based proteomics techniques to learn about the protein effectors that are present in the host. We focused on the hemolymph (insect blood) where a significant repertoire of immunity-related proteins exists. In our comparison of adults and larvae, we saw age-correlated differences in the levels of the antimicrobial peptide hymenoptaecin, the phenoloxidase enzyme which lead to the production of cytotoxic free radicals, and several bacterial recognition proteins. Thi