{"title":"A method for delivery of exogenous nucleic acids during the non-ovipositional phase in honeybees","authors":"Linxuan Xie, Huali Song, Yaohui Li, Yongyan He, Xiaomei Peng, Xiangyou Tang, Mingyu Song, Jinshan Xu","doi":"10.1007/s13592-025-01200-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Honeybees are essential global pollinators and key model organisms for studying insect social behavior. Genetic manipulation is crucial for understanding honeybee biology, but current methods rely on microinjecting early-stage embryos, which is technically challenging, inefficient, and often results in high embryo mortality. In this study, we identified AcQP, an ovary-targeting peptide from the Asian honeybee (<i>Apis cerana</i>), capable of delivering DNA specifically to ovarian cells and transmitting it to progeny via the laying queen. Notably, AcQP also targets the ovaries of <i>Apis mellifera</i> and other non-<i>Apis</i> species, including silkworms and mosquitoes. By integrating AcQP with the Gal4- upstream activation sequences system, we successfully introduced exogenous DNA into queen bee ovarian cells via abdominal spiracle injection. This study established an efficient ovary–targeted DNA delivery method, representing a significant advancement in honeybee genetic engineering.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8078,"journal":{"name":"Apidologie","volume":"56 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Apidologie","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-025-01200-0","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENTOMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Honeybees are essential global pollinators and key model organisms for studying insect social behavior. Genetic manipulation is crucial for understanding honeybee biology, but current methods rely on microinjecting early-stage embryos, which is technically challenging, inefficient, and often results in high embryo mortality. In this study, we identified AcQP, an ovary-targeting peptide from the Asian honeybee (Apis cerana), capable of delivering DNA specifically to ovarian cells and transmitting it to progeny via the laying queen. Notably, AcQP also targets the ovaries of Apis mellifera and other non-Apis species, including silkworms and mosquitoes. By integrating AcQP with the Gal4- upstream activation sequences system, we successfully introduced exogenous DNA into queen bee ovarian cells via abdominal spiracle injection. This study established an efficient ovary–targeted DNA delivery method, representing a significant advancement in honeybee genetic engineering.
期刊介绍：
Apidologie is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the biology of insects belonging to the superfamily Apoidea.
Its range of coverage includes behavior, ecology, pollination, genetics, physiology, systematics, toxicology and pathology. Also accepted are papers on the rearing, exploitation and practical use of Apoidea and their products, as far as they make a clear contribution to the understanding of bee biology.
Apidologie is an official publication of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and Deutscher Imkerbund E.V. (D.I.B.)
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