Transgenerational immune priming is the process of increased resistance to infection in offspring due to parental pathogen exposure. Honey bees (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) are hosts to multiple pathogens, and this complex immune function could help protect against overwhelming infection. Honey bees have demonstrated transgenerational immune priming for the bacterial pathogen Paenibacillus larvae; however, evidence for viral transgenerational immune priming is lacking across insects in general. Here we test for the presence of transgenerational immune priming in honey bees with Deformed wing virus (DWV) by injecting pupae from DWV-exposed queens and measuring virus titer and immune gene expression. Our data suggest that there is evidence for viral transgenerational immune priming in honey bees, but it is highly context-dependent based on route of maternal exposure and potentially host genetics or epigenetic factors.

中文翻译：

---

蜜蜂（膜翅目：蜜蜂科）中环境依赖性病毒跨代免疫启动


跨代免疫启动是由于亲本病原体暴露而提高后代对感染的抵抗力的过程。蜜蜂（Apis mellifera L.（膜翅目：蜜蜂科））是多种病原体的宿主，这种复杂的免疫功能可以帮助防止大量感染。蜜蜂已证明对细菌病原体类芽孢杆菌幼虫具有跨代免疫启动作用；然而，昆虫中普遍缺乏病毒跨代免疫启动的证据。在这里，我们通过注射变形翅病毒 (DWV) 暴露的蜂王的蛹并测量病毒滴度和免疫基因表达来测试蜜蜂中是否存在变形翼病毒 (DWV)。我们的数据表明，有证据表明蜜蜂存在病毒跨代免疫启动，但它高度依赖于母体暴露途径和潜在宿主遗传学或表观遗传因素。