https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37644282/

Abstract

* Background: * Bees provide essential pollination services for many food
crops and are critical in supporting wild plant diversity. However, the
dietary landscape of pollen food sources for social and solitary bees has
changed because of agricultural intensification and habitat loss. For this
reason, understanding the basic nutrient metabolism and meeting the
nutritional needs of bees is becoming an urgent requirement for agriculture
and conservation. We know that pollen is the principal source of dietary
fat and sterols for pollinators, but a precise understanding of what the
essential nutrients are and how much is needed is not yet clear. Sterols
are key for producing the hormones that control development and may be
present in cell membranes, where fatty-acid-containing species are
important structural and signalling molecules (phospholipids) or to supply,
store and distribute energy (glycerides).

* Aim of the review: * In this critical review, we examine the current
general understanding of sterol and lipid metabolism of social and solitary
bees from a variety of literature sources and discuss implications for bee
health.

* Key scientific concepts of review: * We found that while eusocial bees
are resilient to some dietary variation in sterol supply the scope for this
is limited. The evidence of both de novo lipogenesis and a dietary need for
particular fatty acids (FAs) shows that FA metabolism in insects is
analogous to mammals but with distinct features. Bees rely on their dietary
intake for essential sterols and lipids in a way that is dependent upon
pollen availability.

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