Effect of the environmentally relevant dose of the pesticides sulfoxaflor, chloropyrifos and their association on the bacteria in the intestinal tract of Apis mellifera bees

• Grant number: 24/13358-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo de Oliveira Orsi
• Grantee: Iloran do Rosário Corrêa Moreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Studiesshow that in recent years it has become increasingly common tofind  pesticide residues in bee products, especially in the wax. Exposure of bees tothese substances can cause adverse effects on their health, damaging their morphology, physiology, memory and learning, as well asdecreasing their longevity and promoting changes in the bees'intestinal microbiota. The aim of this is the effects of the pesticidessulfoxaflor, chloropyrifos and their combination on the intestinaltract bacteria of bees of Apis mellifera bees at different lifestages (larval, nurse and forager). The environmentally relevant doseof the pesticides Sulfoxaflor (16.97 µg/kg),Chloropyrifos (16.97µg/kg) and their combination (Sulfoxaflor 16.97 µg/kg +Chloropyrifos 16.97 µg/kg), will be added to the wax while it isstill in a liquid state, which will be homogenized, laminated andhoneycombed. The wax slides will then be fed to the colonies so thatthey are to the colonies for the worker bees to build combs. After layingthe queen, five-day-old larvae will be collected. The frames will thenbe wrapped in filo fabric and stored in a greenhouse (32°C and 75%RH) for the bees to hatch.of the bees. The newly emerged bees will bemarked with a non-toxic pen in the pronotum region (around 500 bees)and returned to their respective colonies. At seven and 21 days ofage, the marked bees will be collected for analysis. gut microbiota.Gene expression will be analyzed using the Dunnet test, with resultsconsidered statistically significant when P<0.05. The results ofthis study should provide valuable insights into how the gutmicrobiota of bees stress caused by insecticides, contributing to theconservation of the biodiversity of these bees.