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Author Notes:

AB conceived the project, designed the study, participated in all aspects of the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data, wrote drafts and revisions of the manuscript, approved the final version of the manuscript, and was accountable for all aspects of the work.

ED participated in the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the animal inoculation experiments, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

JJ participated in the data analysis and interpretation, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

HL assisted with the project concept, and participated in all aspects of the study design, acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data, wrote drafts and revisions of the manuscript, wrote the final version of the manuscript and was accountable for all aspects of the work.

All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

We would like to thank the Hamilton College Chemistry Department for providing rotary evaporators, Christopher Briggs for advising on statistical analysis, and Robbin Kinnel for suggesting propolis extraction protocols.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Subjects:

Research Funding:

This work was supported by the Dean of Faculty, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; and the Casstevens Family Fund, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY.

This article published with support from Emory Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund.

Keywords:

  • nosema ceranae
  • infection
  • honey bee
  • apis mellifera
  • colony health
  • propolis extract
  • dichloromethane
  • inoculation

North American Propolis Extracts From Upstate New York Decrease Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia) Spore Levels in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

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Journal Title:

Frontiers in Microbiology

Volume:

Volume 11

Publisher:

Type of Work:

Article | Final Publisher PDF

Abstract:

Nosema ceranae infections in honey bees (Apis mellifera) pose a severe threat to colony health. Beekeepers have used dicyclohexylammonium fumagillin to control Nosema apis, although it may be ineffective against N. ceranae. We investigated the ability of various propolis extracts collected from Upstate New York (United States) to decrease in vivo N. ceranae infection levels when fed ad libitum to N. ceranae-infected honey bees. Propolis extracts, most notably a dichloromethane extract, significantly lowered spore levels in a dose-dependent fashion 4 days post inoculation. When testing the in vitro anti-Nosema activity of propolis extracts, we report for the first time that spore viability was unaffected after a 24 h exposure to propolis extracts. These results present evidence that propolis extracts may effectively lower Microsporidia infections in honey bees, and that direct exposure of environmental spores to propolis alone does not kill N. ceranae.

Copyright information:

© Copyright © 2020 Burnham, De Jong, Jones and Lehman.

This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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