Hi all
Am I the only one to find it ironic that we are talking about how quickly mites become insensitive to pesticides, while overlooking the same thing in honey bees?

The association between nutrition and pesticide regulated molecular pathways
suggested that nutrition may modulate the impacts of pesticides on honey bees.
Interestingly, while the inclusion of protein in their diet significantly, but only slightly,
reduced the lifespan of bees in the absence of pesticide exposure, protein-fed bees had
fed sucrose alone. The benefits of a protein diet were highest for bees fed pollen
throughout the course of the study, though bees fed pollen for only 24 hours prior to
pesticide exposure or bees feed soy protein also lived significantly longer than bees fed
only sucrose. 

Pollen diversity is known to reduce pesticide sensitivity in honey bees
(Wahl and Ulm 1983) while other bee products, such as propolis, have recently been
suggested to enhance detoxification capabilities (Niu et al. 2011). In other herbivores,
induction of P450s through the consumption of small amounts of plant material can cause
the allelochemicals of the plant to become relatively harmless (reviewed in Glendinning
2002). 

This suggests that pollen may indeed have a priming response in the honey bee
which allows the upregulation of P450s (as shown in our earlier results) and better
resistance to pesticide exposure. Additional investigation is necessary to further dissect
the effects of protein consumption from the unique nature of pollen and how pollen may
provide honey bees with pesticide tolerance.

A mechanism for pesticide resistance in honey bees is vital due to this high degree
of exposure and the rate at which pesticides are sequestered in the hive in bee products
(Mullin et al. 2010). Previous studies have shown that pesticides interact with
detoxification pathways. Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) are involved in
xenobiotic detoxification, as well as hormone synthesis and metabolism.

Schmehl (2013) 
GENOMIC, PHYSIOLOGICAL, AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE
IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS ON HONEY BEE (APIS
MELLIFERA L.) WORKERS AND QUEENS

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