Figure 7.

Virus infections of primary honey bee pupal cells differentially impact the expression of select immune genes. The relative expression of three honey bee immune genes, argonaute-2 (ago2), dicer-like (dcr-like), and bee antiviral protein-1 (bap1)/mf116383, were assessed by qPCR at 72 hpi. The ΔΔCt method with normalization to rpl8 was utilized to assess target gene expression in each sample, and then the log₂ fold change values were calculated relative to mock-infected samples. Raw data are included in Supplemental Tables S9–S11. (A) SBV infection of pupal cells did not impact ago2 or dcr-like expression, whereas the expression of bap1 was 0.95 log₂-fold greater at 72 hpi (p = 0.032). (B) DWV-infected pupal cells exhibited slightly lower ago2 expression (p = 0.032) relative to mock-infected cells at 72 hpi, whereas there was no impact of virus infection on dcr-like expression. The expression of bap1 was 0.18 log₂-fold higher in DWV-infected pupal cells compared to mock-infected cells at 72 hpi (p = 0.032). (C) In pupal cells infected with FHV, ago2 and dcr-like expression was higher (i.e., 1 and 0.48 log₂-fold change, respectively, p = 0.032) in FHV-infected cells relative to mock-infected cells at 72 hpi. The expression of bap1 was not impacted by FHV infection. The differences in log₂ immune gene relative expression in infected cells relative to mock-infected (PBS-treated) cells at 72 hpi were assessed using a one-sided Wilcoxon Rank Sums test. Significance level: * p < 0.05.